LEGAZPI CITY, Albay – At least 2,000 families affected by inclement weather in the island-town of Rapu-Rapu in Albay province received aid from the government on Sunday, Feb. 5.
Beneficiaries were from Barangays Bilbao, Dapdap, Lagundi, Sagrada, Caracaran, San Ramon, and Liguan in Batan Island.
Maria Theresa Diamante, officer-in-charge of the Municipal Social Welfare and Development Office (MSWDO), said beneficiaries were mostly fisherfolk unable to fish for at least a month due to bad weather.
Ako Bicol party-list executive director Alfredo Garbin Jr., Albay Rep. Joey Salceda, Department of Social Welfare Development (DSWD)-Bicol Director Norman Laurio, and local officials of Rapu-Rapu led the distribution of family food packs and cash assistance to affected residents in Barangay Dapdap.
Garbin said that 500 affected fisherfolk received cash assistance amounting to P3,000 and 1,000 head of families got family food packs.
He said that the cash assistance is chargeable to the Ako-Bicol fund thru the Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation (AICS) program of the DSWD.
The food pack consists of six kilos of rice, 10 canned goods, six sachets of coffee, and six sachets of cereals amounting to P777.
Salceda said that P4 million has been allocated to Rapu-Rapu as calamity fund.
He said that the distribution of aid to affected residents in Batan Island is a collaborative effort between the Ako-Bicol partylist, his office, DSWD-Bicol, and the local government of Rapu-Rapu.