DSWD to help Pangasinan families affected by fish kill

Fish kill-affected families in Pangasinan — 2,860 households in all — are getting help from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) through a 10-day cash-for-work program. “They will be receiving P280 each per day for 10 days of community work or service such as sanitary disposal or burying of dead fish, coastal clean-up and repair of fish cages and related structures," the DSWD said in a news release on its website Tuesday. The DSWD said it has so far released P8 million for the relief aid to the fishermen’s families in the towns of Anda and Bolinao in Pangasinan. The beneficiaries were identified using the DSWD National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR) project. In Batangas, where fish kill hit several fishing towns, the DSWD is working with the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), and the Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (DA-BFAR) to determine how the government can best provide relief aid. The DSWD said it already has an ongoing rice subsidy program for small-scale farmers and fisherfolk in Southern Luzon to help families cope with rising prices of fuel and commodities and to tide them over during the lean months. Meanwhile, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said Tuesday evening that fish kill in Batangas wiped out 1,926 metric tons of fish worth P184.67 million. The NDRRMC said in its latest report that the previously reported P7.5 million damage estimate in Mataas na Kahoy in Batangas was lowered to P1.3 million after validation by the BFAR field office. — ELR/VS, GMA News