The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), through its Protective Services Program (PSP), continues to extend aid to typhoon victims in Batanes, this time for students who lost their school supplies and uniforms during the onslaught of Typhoon Ferdie.

According to Social Welfare and Development (SWAD) team leader in Region II,  Rosemarie Bartolome, around P14M will be allocated for the educational assistance of students in the province.

Yesterday, September 19, the DSWD Field Office-II already started disbursing the financial aid to students in Brgy. Itbud, Uyugan.

Meanwhile, basic food requirements in Batanes are now considered stable, with the National Food Authority (NFA) providing more than 5,000 sacks of rice and a cargo ship carrying commercial commodities.

An additional 500 family food packs, 3,000 bottled water, 147 boxes of corned beef, and 10,000 candles are set to be delivered today, September 20, since there are still 15 families or 101 persons staying in an evacuation center in Basco, while others are just starting to reconstruct their homes and are still in need of food provisions.

To date, a total of 1,941 damaged houses in Region II of which 1,431 are partially damaged and 547 are totally damaged.

DSWD Secretary Judy M. Taguiwalo said that DSWD maintains its close coordination with local executives of Batanes in order to prepare for the recovery and rehabilitation phase.

“It is important that programs aimed at rehabilitating  affected families be immediately implemented to enable them to return to their normal functioning, “ Sec. Taguiwalo said. ###