DAVAO CITY, May 17 (PIA) – About 215 families affected by the COVID19 pandemic who went home to their provinces in Davao Region are being assisted by the Department of Social Welfare and Development XI (DSWD) through the Balik Probinsya Bagong Pag-asa Program (BP2P).

In yesterday’s One Davao Virtual Presser, Lee Berdos, the BP2P focal of the DSWD XI bared that as early as the second quarter of the year, the agency has already exceeded its target number of families who qualify to receive assistance from the DSWD.

“Our target number of families who will have to receive assistance from the agency is supposedly 150, However, the DSWD reached out to as many as 215 families who asked for help as they went home from Metro Manila after getting affected by the pandemic”, said Berdos.

The BP2P focal explained that the DSWD while waiting for the actual dispatch of relocatees from Manila who underwent the BP2P regular application, the DSWD expanded its scope of providing assistance to pandemic-affected families.

“Kahit pa hindi talaga sila nadisptach ng BP2P, as long as sila ay nakauwi na sa probinsya at talagang apektado ang trabaho dahil sa pandemya, binibigyan naming talaga sila ng tatlong klaseng assistance”, Berdos added.

The first assistance is the transportation allowance which is given to those who have been dispatched from Manila back to their province in Davao Region.

Another assistance that DSWD provides is the livelihood assistance which they have synchronized efforts with the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).

The livelihood settlement assistance could reach as high as P50,000 per family which can help them start a new business and sustain it through the years.

Last May 11, 2022, the DSWD awarded the livelihood grant amounting to P50,000 to the Coderias Family of Davao del Norte.

The 215 family beneficiaries are now settling in Sto Tomas, New Corella, Carmen, Asuncion, San Isidro, Kapalong, Braulio Dujali, IGACOS, and Panabo all from Davao del Norte Province; Davao City; Mati and Tarragona in Davao Oriental; and Kiblawan and Sta. Cruz from Davao del Sur. (PIA XI/Frances Mae Macapagat)