Senator Imee Marcos announced the allocation of P6 million in Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situations (AICS) in Negros Occidental, and said P5 million in agricultural aid will also be given to each local government unit in the Fourth District.
Marcos was joined by Negros Occidental Vice Governor Jeffrey Ferrer and officials of the Fourth District in the distribution of the assistance to 1,000 of the 2,000 AICS beneficiaries at the Bago City Coliseum on Tuesday, November 29.
They received P3,000 each from the Department of Social Welfare and Development, Marcos said.
There were 500 beneficiaries from Bago City, 380 from La Carlota City and 30 each from Pontevedra, San Enrique Valladolid and Pulupandan, Angie Gelongo, social welfare coordinator for the 4th District, said.
The senator said the assistance was being given in the Fourth District where a lot still have not recovered from Typhoon Odette.
She was also in Negros to look into the agriculture needs, Marcos said, noting that palay crops and fishing boats were destroyed by Typhoon Odette.
The Department of Agriculture will release P5 million for each LGU in the Fifth District, she said.
Marcos also distributed nutribuns to children from Bago City.
She said in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic there has been a great increase in the number of poor and malnourished in the country.
Marcos also said the rising cost of basic commodities is “a nightmare right now”.
She is urging the Department of Agriculture to import onions to bring down their soaring cost.
The country can import just a little until local farmers catch up on production, she said.
“We don’t want to have a ‘Paskong Tuyo’ or hunger during Christmas”, she said.
So in the meantime we are giving aid but the focus must be on creating jobs, Marcos said.*