EDGEDAVAO
SUBURBIA
VOL. 6 ISSUE 93 • WEDNESDAY, JULY 24, 2013
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COMPOSTELA, COMPOSTELA VALLEY
Program helps typhoon victims slowly recover C
HELPING THEM RECOVER. Beneficiaries of the Plan International-initiated cash-for-work program clear a banana farm in New Katipunan, New Bataan, Compostela
Valley. They are among the 7,333 beneficiaries of the program funded by the World Food Programme.
GENERAL SANTOS CITY
GenSan, ARMM business leaders hail Aquino’s SONA K
ORONADAL CITY— Leaders of at least two business groups in Mindanao expressed satisfaction Tuesday about the State of the Nation Address (SONA) of President Benigno Aquino III. The President, midway into his term, delivered his fourth SONA Monday, highlighting the gains achieved and the initiatives needed to sustain the growth of the country. Bench Tacumba, executive director of the General Santos City Chamber of Commerce and Industry Foundation Inc. commended Aquino for doing a “good job.” “His pursuit for integrity in government service
demonstrated positive Nresults. It attracts more foreign direct investments because confidence on doing business is high,” she said. The gross domestic product growth of 7.8 percent for the first quarter of 2013 cited by the President, which is recorded as the highest in Southeast Asia, signals that our economy is robust and our competitiveness’ indicators are in good showing, Tacumba added. But on the Mindanao power problem, Tacumba noted the President’s statement “sounds too careful though he directly revealed that steps will continue to address the decade-long crisis.”
“With a huge problem such as this, I expect a more thorough and concrete remark on the matter,” she said. The President said in his SONA that the recurring blackouts in Mindanao made up the long list of problems he inherited from the past administration. “From the very beginning, we have been working on a solution for this—but we are also aware that a problem that has been ignored for an entire decade cannot be solved overnight,” Aquino said in the English translation of his SONA released by Malacanang. (Bong S. Sarmiento/MindaNews)
OMPOSTELA, Compostela Valley --- Anesita Cagubcog was eager as she entered the Rural Bank of Compostela. Shy but composed, Cagubcog was patiently waiting for her name to be called so she could receive her P2,260 financial assistance as she was among those who worked for 10 days for the cash-for-work program of Plan International. The mother of seven was among the 158 beneficiaries who received their first payout for the program which is funded by the World Food Program (WFP) for those affected by Typhoon Pablo (Bopha) when it devastated her town and the rest of the province that fateful December 4. To get to Compostela, Cagubcog, who was tapped to work in place of her husband who is suffering from arthritis, and the others were provided with additional P100 fare as she was living in New Katipunan, New Bataan, the next town. In New Bataan there are 729 beneficiaries, part of the 7,333 that the program identified in the provinces of Agusan del Sur, Compostela Valley, Davao Oriental who were devastated by the typhoon.
“Mag grocery mi aning akong makuha karon (We will use the money for grocery),” she said while waiting for her name to be called, pointing out that the situation of her family has vastly improved because of the interventions coming both from government and non-government organizations. The cash-for-work program aims to assist beneficiary households in the rehabilitation of the livelihood sector while providing temporary employment to the affected population. Target beneficiaries are those who (a) have more than five children in one household; (b) have a member of the vulnerable group (elderly, person with disability, pregnant and lactating women, child(ren) with malnutrition, or person with chronic illness, and those households whose: (c) source/s of income (farms, livestock, fishing gears, etc.) are totally destroyed; (d) houses have been totally or partially damaged; and (e) monthly income is less than P5,000. Before the program, Cagubcog said her family has started harvesting corn so her family could buy rice. “Pero ang panud-an wala (But we have nothing for vi-
EMERGENCY SHELTER. Typhoon Pablo victims in Baganga, Davao Oriental claim their DSWD Emergency Shelter Assistance (ESA). Baganga town has 255 ESA beneficiary-families that have been provided P10,000.00 each for repair
and),” she added. She hopes she could later buy galvanized iron sheets for her damaged house. Father of three Danny Boy C. Lague said the money he earned will be used to buy basic goods for the family. ““Dako kaayo ni og ikatabang mao nagapasalamat ko sa Plan sa pagtagad sa amoa, ilabi na nga taman Setyembre pa ning cash-forwork (This is a big help and I am thankful to Plan for its attention to us, most especially that the program will last until September,” said Lague, 34. He said the program is a very good intervention because the banana farm which he used to work at P100 a day has yet to be rehabilitated. Typhoon Pablo has affected over 6.2 million people, destroying their houses and livelihood.Plan Philippines has helped address the people’s needs for education, health, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), child protection, psychosocial, shelter, and emergency livelihood. Six months after the disaster, Plan still works with affected populations to facilitate early recovery and rehabilitation. (Leslie Lao-Francisco)
of their damaged houses. To date, a total of P79,000,000.00 has been extended through Emergency Shelter and P78,000,000.00 through Modified Permanent Shelter. DSWD