DSWD allocates P39 M to assist 5,300 Filipinos returning from Sabah
The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has allocated P39 million to provide assistance to returning Filipinos from Sabah, Malaysia.
DSWD Secretary Rolando Bautista said the funding allocation was made to assist the 5,300 Filipino “transferees."
"Naglaan ang departamento ng P39 million para makapagbigay ng tulong sa mga transferees (The Department has allocated P39 million to grant assistance to the transferees)," he said in a virtual press briefing.
He disclosed that on Saturday, July 4, around 395 Filipino transferees are expected to arrive in two identified drop-off points--Tawi-Tawi province and Zamboanga City.
“We have been in close coordination with other agencies which are members of the Inter-Agency Task Group Western Mindanao – Management of Returning Filipinos from Sabah (IATG-MREFS), and the local executives of Basilan, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi provinces and city government of Zamboanga to prepare the assistance to be extended to 5,300 Filipino transferees from Sabah,” he said in Pilipino.
The DSWD Chief said profiling and assessment will be conducted to identify the appropriate assistance to be extended to the returning Filipinos.
"Titingnan ang emotional state ng transferees upang matukoy ang psychosocial interventions na ibibigay sa kanila (The emotional state of the transferees will be assessed to identify the psychosocial interventions that will be given to them),” he said.
Bautista said the DSWD Field Office IX (Zamboanga Peninsula) will provide Family Food Packs (FFPs), sleeping kits, and hygiene kits to the transferees.
He earlier said they have been coordinating with Ministry of Social Welfare and Development of Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) and IATG-MREFS to come up with a "long-term plan for the reintegration" of the Filipino “transferees."
The National Task Force on COVID-19 (NTF COVID-19) created the IATG-MREFS to facilitate the swift return of the Filipinos from Sabah.