The Department of Social Welfare and Development – Northern Mindanao (DSWD-10) has distributed 366,674 food packs in 2021 to help affected communities brought by pandemic restrictions and natural calamities.

During the opening of the agency’s 71st anniversary Monday, DSWD-10 Director Mari-Flor Dollaga said the food packs were sent to different areas affected by Covid-19 quarantine restrictions, and tropical storms such as Typhoon Odette in December last year.

The food packs, especially during the Odette response, were not only delivered within Northern Mindanao but also to the Caraga Region to augment the supply.

“Our work deals with the entire well-being: physical, mental, health, and emotional aspects, but to care for a person’s well-being means to love, and our work is love,” she said.

Dollaga also presented other key highlights of the regional office with the 100 percent achievement of targets, such as giving 98 local government units (LGUs) technical assistance and resource augmentation.

“We helped 265 survivors from our DSWD centers. These are women, young girls, and children who were in the most unidealistic circumstances,” she said.

Do more for the poor

Amid their accomplishments, Dollaga urged their workers to do more, saying “relentless service” to the marginalized sector is a commitment.

Under the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, an average of 266,665 or 98.01 percent active beneficiaries were funded out of 272,070 target households.

In the Sustainable Livelihood Program, 29,000 program participants were provided with modalities out of 26,366 target households.

109 subprojects

Meanwhile, under the Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan–Comprehensive and Integrated-Delivery of Social Services–National Community-Driven-Development Project, a total of 101 sub-projects such as farm-to-market roads, solar systems, water systems, among others had been completed.

Dollaga said DSWD-10 is also pushing forward the remaining 109 sub-projects this year.

The regional office provided a supplementary feeding program to 153,514 daycare children and a total of 214,436 indigent senior citizens were also provided with a monthly stipend of PHP500 per month in 2021 under the Social Pension Program.

For senior citizens reaching 100 years old, 25 were given cash gifts amounting to PHP100,000 each as mandated under Republic Act No. 10868 or the Centenarians Act.

Also, 116,457 clients with a total disbursed funds of PHP1.4 billion received different types of assistance such as medical, burial, transportation aid, among others, under the assistance to individuals in crises. (PNA)