MANILA: Some 90 public market vendors affected by a fire in Iriga City got cash relief assistance from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), an agency official said Tuesday.
DSWD spokesperson Romel Lopez said the DSWD’s Field Office-5 (Bicol Region) immediately coordinated with the Iriga City government to provide immediate aid to the affected stall owners upon learning of the incident.
Lopez said each stall owner received PHP10,000 in cash aid from the government through the Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation Program.
‘The DSWD Bicol also distributed 228 family food packs and essential non-food items worth more than PHP193,000 to assist those impacted by the fire incident,’ he said.
The DSWD Field Office, he said, is also set to provide livelihood assistance for their early recovery and rehabilitation of the affected market vendors.
Lopez said the DSWD will also assess the affected vendors so they can be granted start-up capital, ranging from PHP10,000 to PHP20,000 through
the Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP).
‘The SLP payout will soon be scheduled to complete the set of assistance to the fire victims,’ he said.
Marilou Borazon, one of the affected vendors, thanked the DSWD, saying ‘Isang malaking tulong po ito lalo upang mas mapabilis po ang aming pag recover ng aming kabuhayan (This is a big help for faster recovery of our livelihood).’
The affected vendors are temporarily housed at the Barangay San Francisco evacuation center and at the Early Childhood Care Development Center.
Source: Philippines News Agency
