AT LEAST 311 families whose homes, properties, and livelihood that were considered totally damaged by heavy floods on January 16, are enlisted in the "Moving Forward: Recovery, Rehabilitation, and Reconstruction" program of the City Social Welfare and Development office (CSWD) on Friday, January 27.
Julius Pamisa, CSWD's Division head for Community and Social Development, said that the goal of this program is to determine the needs of the flood victims and to give them the appropriate assistance for their recovery. CSWD will conduct profiling for these flood victims that will enable them to determine exactly what kind of assistance the victims need.
"For example, if one of the flood victims here would say that he was a cart vendor at Cogon market but then because of the flood, his cart and other means of livelihood were destroyed. We will then give him enough financial assistance and livelihood training so that he can get back on his knees," Pamisa explained.
However, the financial assistance that the government will give to the flood victims will not be for free. Pamisa said that over time, the flood victims will have to give back the financial assistance that the government provided them.
"If we determined that according to their loss we can give them P3,000, then after a certain period, say 3 months, they will have to give that back. There won't be any interest in the payment of course, but if they will be responsible in paying on time, then we might then add more to what we gave them initially," he said.
Pamisa added that the CSWD already has a master list of the families that were totally damaged given by the barangays. According to their list, the barangays that have such casualties are Bugo, Puerto, Agusan, Gusa, Cugman, Camaman-an, Canitoan, Carmen, Iponan, and Barangay 35. Only those who come from these barangays will be entertained by the DSWD.
"This is of course a preventive measure so that only those families who were totally damaged will be included in the profiling and the distribution of support. Prior to these however we have already partnered with affected barangays to know and assess the damage in their areas and to their constituents," Pamisa said.
Included in this program is a psychological stress and trauma briefing for flood victims and livelihood lectures by CSWD's partner institutions such as Xavier University and the Social Action Center. The Archdiocese of Cagayan de Oro has also volunteered to allow the flood victims to make use of the AMAKAN village for temporary residence. The AMAKAN village is a lot owned by the Archdiocese of Cagayan de Oro and was also used as a temporary residence for the Sendong victims back in 2011.
Aida Tabi was more than happy for this assistance. Since the flood, she and her family have only partially fixed their only home in barangay Camaman-an. They made a makeshift roof and some beds in the aftermath of the flood. They relied on the free food and relief goods that were brought to their area four days after the flood. For now, they are temporarily living in her sister's house in barangay Consolacion. Tabi said they want to be able to recover their house as soon as possible.
Her husband works as a jeepney driver while Tabi works as a saleslady in one department store in Cogon market. While they have not lost their means of living from the flood, Tabi says losing their home during the flood is still very heavy for them to recover from.
"Hopefully, with this assistance that they will give, we would be able to recover faster. The damage in our home is so big and we do not have the money to rebuild it," Tabi said.