Residents displaced by military-NPA gun battles in Negros Occidental receive financial aid
BACOLOD CITY – The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD)-Western Visayas has turned over financial assistance amounting to P971,364 to more than 1,000 individuals displaced by the series of armed conflict in two localities in northern Negros Occidental last week.

MORE than 1,000 individuals displaced by the series of armed conflict in Toboso and Escalante City in Negros Occidental received food and non-food items, including P900,000 worth of financial assistance, from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD)-Western Visayas. (Photo Courtesy of Social Welfare Officer (SWO) III Frenz Ernan Orbista and SWOII Jan Kristoffer Fetalsana via DSWD-Western Visayas Facebook)
The department, through the Local City Social Welfare and Development Offices (LSWDOs) of Escalante City and Toboso, recorded 268 families composed of 1,092 individuals who evacuated from various barangays following clashes between the New People’s Army (NPA) and the military in Barangay Pinapugasan, Escalante City on February 21 and 22.
The Disaster Response Management Division (DRMD) of DSWD-Western Visayas distributed cash assistance to the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) over the weekend.
The IDPs also received food and non-food items, consisting of 366 family food packs, 183 hygiene kits, and 183 sleeping kits to augment the initial assistance provided by the local government units (LGUs).
DSWD personnel also checked and interviewed the IDPs to identify their issues and concerns inside the evacuation centers for possible interventions.
Carmelo Nochete, DSWD-Western Visayas director, said the regional office is one in heart with these LGUs that responded to the armed conflict. “We cannot imagine the trauma of families, especially the children, when they hear the exchange of gun fires. Rest assured that our office will continue to help," Nochete said.
The armed conflict killed three NPA rebels and wounded three soldiers and a militiaman. It also prompted the Army 79th Infantry Battalion (IB) to launch an airstrike against the remnants of the dismantled Northern Negros Front (NNF)-D in the area.
Classes in the two localities resumed on Monday, February 26.