DSWD provides P16 M in aid to 5,444 families affected by clashes in Negros
BACOLOD CITY – The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD)-Western Visayas and the city government of Himamaylan City, Negros Occidental have provided P16 million in aid to 5,444 families or 26,272 individuals displaced by series of clashes in Himamaylan City last month.
The DSWD-Western Visayas allotted P11,810,747.59 while the city government extended P4,284,480.

Atty. May Rago-Castillo, public information officer of DSWD-Western Visayas, in a media interview at the Acacia Hotel here on Monday, Nov. 7, said bulk of the affected were residents of Barangay Carabalan with 15,905 persons or 3,313 families.
The series of encounters first erupted in Barangay Carabalan on Oct. 8, and ended on Oct. 12. Two soldiers and a New People’s Army leader were killed and six other soldiers were wounded.
As a result, the city government declared a state of calamity.
The DSWD-Western Visayas said 1,985 families composed of 9,727 individuals in Barangay Cabadiangan, 28 families or 105 individuals in Barangay III-Poblacion, all in Himamaylan City, and 118 families or 535 persons in Barangay Biao, Binalbagan, Negros Occidental, also benefitted from the assistance.
The agency added that 2,136 family food packs worth P1,247,080 and 105 sleeping kits worth P133,350 were provided to the affected persons while 105 hygiene kits worth P154,717.59 and 105 family kits worth P264,600 will be distributed.
Castillo said the distribution of assistance is still ongoing.