The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has so far disbursed PHP677,800,000 under its Uplift Disaster Assistance Program to assist Red-stripe soft scale insect affected small sugarcane farmers and laborers across the Negros Island Region, DSWD NIR Regional Director Arwin Razo said Monday, Oct. 26.
DSWD Disaster Response Operations Monitoring and Information Center (DROMIC) data released as of October 24, shows that the ongoing disaster assistance initiative has provided financial relief to a total of 66,005 beneficiaries, comprising 56,301 sugarcane farmers and 9,704 sugarcane laborers in Negros Island.
Negros Occidental accounted for the largest portion of the aid distribution, recording a combined total of 47,497 beneficiaries who received PHP 490,406,525 in assistance.
Within the province, Bacolod City served 2,820 beneficiaries, consisting of 1,232 farmers and 1,588 laborers, with disbursements totaling PHP 29,116,500.
In the remaining six legislative districts of Negros Occidental, 44,677 beneficiaries received PHP 461,290,025. Districts 5 and 6 saw the largest share of funding in the province, receiving PHP 155,587,425 for 15,069 beneficiaries and PHP 137,074,700 for 13,276 beneficiaries, respectively.
In Negros Oriental, the assistance program reached 18,508 beneficiaries, consisting of 12,773 farmers and 5,735 laborers, with total aid disbursements reaching PHP187,393,500.
District 1 covering areas such as the City of Canlaon, Ayungon, Bindoy, Manjuyod, and Tayasan received the highest regional concentration for the province at PHP88,938,000 distributed among 8,784 beneficiaries.
Meanwhile, District 2 and District 3 in Negros Oriental received PHP71,330,625 and PHP 27,124,875.
The DSWD continues its monitoring and field operations to ensure that affected workers in the sugar sector receive the necessary government support, Razo said.*
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