TAGUM CITY — Davao del Norte Vice Governor De Carlo Uy said Friday that the District 1 of their province disbursed around PHP214 million emergency cash transfer (ECT) to flood-affected families.

In a report presented to the media, he said that the amount was benefited by around 21,509 families in the said district.

“I am really thankful to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. for approving the ECT. It is really a big help to the people especially the flood-affected families,” Uy added.

With a financial assistance worth PHP9,960 per family, the ECT is an adaptive strategy in bridging the gaps between immediate disaster relief, humanitarian response, and early recovery support.

It is also an outright cash aid of the government for disaster-affected families in areas under state of calamity

Uy said that the province received a total of PHP697 million ECT intended for the shearline and low pressure area affected families.

However, he added that he personally requested for an additional ECT funding to Secretary Rex Gatchalian to further serve thousands more residents in the province.

“Luckily, we were given an additional fund of PHP567 million so we have a total of PHP1.2 billion ECT funds for the province,” he said.

However, Uy bared that some 23,000 families in this city affected by flooding was not included in the listing as ECT beneficiaries.

He divulged that based on the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office (PDRRMO) report given to DSWD on February 27, they reported that only 20,431 families can avail of the program to which the Tagum City DRRMO listed 43,358 total families affected.

“We wanted that to be corrected because we are afraid that the more than 23,000 families cannot get the financial aid. We are just hoping the PDRRMO to update the list because that will be the basis of the national government in giving the assistance,” he added.