BUTUAN CITY - The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Field Office Caraga has officially turned over seven temporary health/quarantine facilities to the municipal government of Bayabas, Surigao del Sur, the agency reported on Wednesday.
The quarantine facilities, which costs P4.4 million, are installed in six barangays of Bayabas, namely, Panaosawon, Amag, Balete, Magobawok, La Paz and Cagbaoto. Barangay Cabugo, another barangay in the said municipality, opted for the cash-for-work grant as their community project, DSWD 13 Regional Information Officer Marko Davey Reyes told The Manila Bulletin on Wednesday.
The collapsible tents with 12 rooms are erected inside the covered courts in the barangays, except for the one in Amag.
Each room has a folding bed, small table, electric fan, trash bin, blanket, pillow, plastic pail and water dipper.
DSWD 13 Assistant Regional Director (ARD) for Operations Jean Paul S. Parajes said the project is very timely and will be of great help to Bayabasnons in this time of health crisis.
“Due to this pandemic, DSWD’s Kalahi-CIDSS program has shifted to Disaster Response Operation Procedure (DROP) to immediately address issues related to early recovery,” the DSWD 13 ARD said.
“This won’t be possible without our close partnership with the local government unit and the untiring efforts of our community volunteers and DSWD field staff,” Parajes added.
Bayabas town officials, led by Mayor Ma. Clarita Limbaro, thanked the agency, saying such a project is very timely and relevant during the current pandemic.
“We are very much thankful to DSWD and the Kalahi-CIDSS program. This project is truly an answer to our needs brought about by the COVID pandemic,” Limbaro said.
The project is under the DROP of DSWD’s Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan – Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (Kalahi-CIDSS) Program.
The implementation of DROP is in response to Proclamation No. 929, which was issued last March 16, 2020, declaring a State of National Calamity for a period of six months in the entire country due to the pandemic.
DROP allows DSWD’s Kalahi-CIDSS-covered areas to shift its operations from regular developmental activities into a disaster response to immediately address issues related to early recovery.
Community projects proposed and funded range from retrofitting/refurbishing of dilapidated community infrastructures, cash for work projects, construction of health facilities/amenities, procurement of communication devices for disaster operations, construction of communal latrines, construction of quarantine facility, construction of hand wash area, repair of water system, and fund capability building activities relative to disaster.
Kalahi-CIDSS is one of the poverty alleviation programs of the government being implemented by the DSWD. Employing community-driven development (CDD) as a strategy, Kalahi-CIDSS trains and engages communities together with their local governments (barangay and municipal) to choose, design, and implement development projects to address their most pressing needs.