Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Secretary Rex Gatchalian personally handed free carabaos and P10,000 in cash aid to each of 10 Aeta families in Barangay Maruglu, Capas, Tarlac on 30 May.

The donations, part of the agency’s Pag-Abot livelihood assistance program to the Aeta community, were intended to make the beneficiaries’ farms productive.

“We don’t want you to feel that we are far away. The President’s order is for the national government agencies to be felt and seen even in the most remote areas of the Philippines,” Gatchalian told recipients of the carabaos worth P50,000 each.

“When we came here before, we heard your request for a carabao, so our department arranged to purchase a carabao for you. You can now use it,” he added.

“We will use this for planting sweet potatoes, rice and some grains so that we will no longer go hungry,” beneficiary Fanny Victoria, 54, said in Filipino.

Tarlac Provincial Governor Susan Yap witnessed the turnover of carabaos to the Aeta community.

In his first visit to the Aeta community last February, Gatchalian led the DSWD social workers in a profiling activity which helped the agency determine the most appropriate interventions for reached-out individuals from different sitios in Barangay Maruglu.