KORONADAL CITY (MindaNews/25 June) — The Department of Labor and Employment in Southwestern Mindanao will extend financial assistance to a hundred flood victims in Cotabato City, Ma. Gloria Tango, DOLE regional director, said.
But the chosen beneficiaries should work for one month declogging drainage systems in 25 barangays in the city, she said.
“The regional Labor department has allotted P396,000 for the project that would cover labor costs,” she said.
Tango said they are hoping to sign a memorandum of agreement with Cotabato City Mayor Japal Guiani, Jr. for the project soon.
Tango said that under the DOLE Kabuhayan program, the agency provides emergency employment assistance for, among others, workers affected by natural calamities and disasters.
She said DOLE will provide livelihood assistance, which has a long-term economic effect, to the displaced workers and their families once the flood will subside.
As of Friday, 76,559 families or 382,788 individuals were still affected by floods in the whole of Region 12, the Department of Social Welfare and Development reported.
In Cotabato City, Zorahayda Taha, DSWD-12 regional director, placed the number of flood-affected families inside evacuation centers at 9,077 families or 45,385 individuals, up from last Saturday’s 6,107 families or an estimated 30,535 persons.
The number of flood victims who sought refuge in their relatives’ houses was pegged at 18,947 families or 108,914 individuals.
North Cotabato has 37,421 affected families from 11 towns, a DSWD report said.
Sporadic heavy rains have hit the area in the last two weeks. In Cotabato City, the situation was aggravated by the accumulation of water hyacinths along the Rio Grande de Mindanao.
In his visit to Cotabato City last Wednesday, President Benigno C. Aquino III dangled the possibility of turning the water hyacinths into energy sources.
The DSWD regional office said they have food supplies enough to meet the needs of the flood victims until July 4. (Bong Sarmiento/MindaNews)