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Gov’t assists 764 LSIs, 379 of them already home: Palace
FILE: STRANDED PASSENGERS. Stranded passengers stay under the flyover near the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3, in Pasay City.
Many passengers were stranded when domestic flights were canceled by their airlines. (PNA photo by Avito C. Dalan)
MANILA – More locally stranded individuals (LSIs) have been sent home after the government vowed to assist stranded passengers amid limited operations of public transport due to the nationwide community quarantine, Malacañang said on Monday.
Citing data from the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said that as of Sunday (June 14), 764 LSIs have been transferred to Villamor Airbase Elementary School and the Philippine State College of Aeronautics.
Of this number, 379 have been given assistance for transport while 385 are still waiting to be sent home, he said.
One hundred fifty LSIs were sent to Davao and General Santos via OPV Gabriela Silang while another 150 were provided with a flight to Davao, he added.
Roque said the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has also distributed sleeping kits and sanitary kits to LSIs in Villamor Airbase Elementary School.
The DSWD has also given PHP2,000 worth of financial assistance to the remaining LSIs.
Meanwhile, Roque said 50,105 repatriate overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) have been sent home from May 15 to 24.
He said 139,000 OFWs have received assistance from the Abot Kamay ang Pagtulong (AKAP) program of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).
Under the program, affected OFWs can get a one-time USD200 (PHP10,000) cash aid.
Last week, Malacañang vowed to assist all LSIs following the death of Michelle Silvertino, a woman who died while trying to get a bus ride to Bicol.
Silvertino, who worked as a housemaid in Antipolo, Rizal, reportedly stayed on a footbridge along Edsa in Pasay City for five days after walking from Cubao, Quezon City.
She was found unconscious by a concerned citizen on June 5 and was rushed to the Pasay General Hospital where she was pronounced dead.
The Hatid Tulong program was earlier launched by the government to assist LSIs stranded in Metro Manila due to travel restrictions imposed during the quarantine period
LSIs seeking government assistance may contact the DSWD Crisis Intervention Unit at 8734-8635.
