– Local residents mobilized to remove debris left by Ulysses
TINGOG party-list has mobilized 100 local residents of Marikina City in a cash-for-work program that enabled them to clear their communities of mud and debris strewn on the streets due to the flooding caused by Typhoon Ulysses.
The Marikina City residents, mostly from Bgy. Malanday, earned P3,000 each for a three-day clearing operation that was initiated by Tingog volunteers last month in coordination with the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
Bgy. Malanday was one of the communities heavily inundated by Typhoon Ulysses, which left three people dead in Marikina City last month.
“Our volunteers in Marikina identified the communities that needed help badly after the onslaught of Typhoon Ulysses. Thanks to the cash-for-work program of the DSWD, we were able to mobilize residents who qualified as beneficiaries,” said Tingog party-list Rep. Yedda Marie Romualdez.
“These beneficiaries were the ones who cleared their communities of mud and debris, and they managed to wrap up the operations in three days time. For their work, these residents were each given P1,000 allowance per day,” Romualdez explained.
Romualdez said Tingog’s clearing operation in Marikina has further convinced her of the need for Congress to allocate more funds in the 2021 national budget for DSWD’s Risk Resiliency Program – Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation (RRP-CCAM) – Disaster Risk Reduction.
“I have seen this program at work. What disaster survivors need are not dole-outs, but means to get back on their feet so they can resume their daily lives the soonest time possible,” she added.
The DSWD program aims to implement projects to address the needs of communities vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.
Through this program, temporary employment is generated which provides income augmentation to families and/or individuals.
The cash for work activities include growing trees of indigenous species, communal/organic gardening, dredging of waterways, canal de-clogging, community clean-up, construction of toilets, rehabilitation of river banks and farm-to-market roads, and other activities relative to environmental protection, climate change adaptation, mitigation, and disaster risk reduction.
RRP-CCAM aims to build awareness on climate change adaptation and encourage communities to take part in implementing community-defined projects to strengthen their resiliency and adaptive capacities on the impacts of climate change and preparedness at the onslaught of disasters.
