The Department of Social Welfare and Development has disbursed over P1.43 billion in financial assistance to nearly 140,000 sugarcane farmers and laborers across the Negros Island Region who have been heavily affected by the devastating Red-Striped Soft Scale Insect (RSSI) infestation, DSWD NIR Director Arwin Razo said Sunday, Nov. 15.
Razo said the DSWD Uplift Disaster Assistance Program as of November 14 hit P1,439,654,725 distributed to 139,833 beneficiaries in Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental, and Bacolod City.
The financial aid, which targets individuals whose livelihoods have been disrupted by the agricultural pest, has been split between 75,174 farmers and 64,659 laborers.
Negros Occidental, the sugar capital of the Philippines, received the majority of the funding, with P1,201,912,600 disbursed to 116,408 beneficiaries (59,072 farmers and 57,336 laborers), Razo said.
The division of assistance within Negros Occidental is distributed as follows:
- District 5 received the highest allocation at P471,356,900, serving 45,652 individuals. Notable recipients within this district include La Castellana, which received P99,543,325 for 9,641 beneficiaries, and Moises Padilla, which received P86,337,650 for 8,362 recipients.
- District 6 followed with P216,112,575 distributed to 20,931 beneficiaries, spearheaded by Kabankalan City, which took in P68,919,375.
- District 4 received P173,749,100 for 16,828 individuals, while District 3 was given P138,561,500 for 13,420 beneficiaries.
- District 2 and District 1 received P119,666,750 and P82,465,775, respectively.
Meanwhile, Bacolod City, which had earlier declared a state of calamity due to the impact of the pest, saw P29,116,500 given out to 2,820 affected residents (1,232 farmers and 1,588 laborers).
In Negros Oriental, P208,625,625 was disbursed to 20,605 sugarcane stakeholders (14,870 farmers and 5,735 laborers).
- District 1 received the bulk of the province’s aid with P101,452,500 going to 10,020 beneficiaries, mainly in Canlaon City (P46,463,625) and Bindoy (P16,524,000).
- District 2 received P80,048,250 for 7,906 individuals, with the municipality of Mabinay leading the district with P26,395,875.
- District 3 was allocated P27,124,875 for 2,679 farmers, with Bayawan City getting the majority of the district’s funds at P24,370,875.
The DSWD’s Uplift Disaster Assistance Program was mobilized earlier this year to cushion the economic blow of the RSSI infestation, which began wreaking havoc on sugarcane fields, Razo said.
The insect’s rapid spread threatened the livelihood of thousands of small-scale growers and agricultural wage earners.*
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