MANILA –The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) on Monday said that it will resume tomorrow, May 1, giving transportation cash assistance to workers in Boracay who opt to return to their home towns while the island resort is being rehabilitated.
“We will resume tomorrow (May 1),” said Joey Urquiola, a DSWD-Social Welfare and Development team leader in Aklan in a phone interview with the Philippine News Agency (PNA).
Urquiola added that due to problems in encashing checks at a bank last Friday, DSWD personnel decided to temporarily stop giving out the cash assistance.
“We have to wait for the cash as there are no bank operations from Saturday to Sunday. The encashment process only resumes today (Monday),” he said.
He said that they also decided to move to another venue of the cash assistance to Faith Village also in Barangay Manoc-Manoc. It was previously done at the Operation Center in Boracay Tropics.
Urquiola said they changed the venue of the cash assistance because the previous location was inconvenient on the part of the individuals who are seeking help.
He estimated that almost PHP5 million was disbursed for the transportation assistance, adding that the cost of assistance varies due to the different destinations of the recipients, who have been properly verified via presentation of valid documents.