‘Vinta’ victims in Oro: We did not receive help from CSWD

THE Cagayan de Oro City Social Welfare and Development Office (CSWD) has started releasing financial assistance for the Typhoon Vinta victims, but many are complaining about not receiving the aid despite being affected by the typhoon in 2017.

Some 1,797 families whose houses were partially damaged were given P10,000 each on Tuesday, while another 253 families will receive P30,000 whose houses were totally washed out by the typhoon.

The first batch were from barangays Carmen, Kauswagan, Bulua, Balulang, Macasandig, FS Catanico, Tablon, Agusan, Bugo, 1, 7, 10, 13 ug 17.

A total of 2,050 families will receive financial aid funded by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

DSWD Regional Information Officer Charmaine Tadlas said the fund has since been downloaded to the city government in December 2018 but was only distributed today due to the election ban.

Tadlas said they have come up with a budget based on the list given only by the local government unit of Cagayan de Oro.

City Administrator and CSWD chief Teddy Sabuga-a meanwhile confirmed that there are some families who were not included in the list of beneficiaries.

"Ang nahitabo sa Vinta, nag-submit na ang barangay sa names, so ang submitted list mao lang pud ang na-validate. Dunay uban nga wala gyud nakasubmit so sila ang nahimong late claimants," he said.

He said he wrote to DSWD to ask for additional budget for the late claimants, a request which was turned down, he said.

He said because of this issue, the City Government has come up with a protocol to give barangay validators 10 days to submit a final list of the beneficiaries.

In the event that a barangay captain refuses to include a family due to "politics", he said the CSWD will now honor a certification from a parish priest as proof that a family was affected by the disaster.

"We will learn from this lesson and try to really include all those who are affected by disasters," he said.