Daram, Samar — February 5, 2016.  DSWD officers and staff both from the Disaster Reduction And Management Bureau (DReAMB) Central Office, Manila and the Risk Reduction Management Program (RRMP) Field Office Eight made a courtesy call to Mayor Lucia Latorre-Astorga, MD, and met with Municipal Social Welfare and Development Officer (MSWDO) Alma Lucero-Llanita, Municipal Treasurer Marianito M. Lozano, and Municipal Planning and Development Officer (MPDO) Gerardo P. Mustacisa to discuss about the ongoing Emergency Shelter Assistance (ESA) payout and possible improvements of the said conduct of activity.

DSWD Central Office (CO) Focal person on ESA Rey Martija, RRMP Head Pauline Liza Nadera, with CO’s  Julius Gabito, F08’s PDO 2 Virdyl Benito and PDO3 Juel Ramos clarified most, if not all, issues pertaining to the Disaster Assistance and Family Access Card (DAFAC), proration, the improved distribution of ESA, etc.

It is the role of the Department of Social Welfare and Development, Central Office and its Field Offices to give technical assistance and augmentation to LGUs when needed.

According to MSWDO Llanita, the ESA payout started February 3, 2016 with 635 beneficiaries served as of February 5.  It has been approved that the amount of Eight Thousand (P8, 000.00) pesos be paid out to beneficiaries whose houses have been partially damaged and Twenty-four Thousand and One hundred (P24, 100.00) pesos be given to those whose houses have been totally damaged by Super typhoon Yolanda in December of 2013.

Upon validation, the municipality has declared 554 beneficiaries with totally damaged houses and 3,914 recipients whose houses were partially damaged by Super Typhoon Yolanda. There was an increase of 1,108 in the number of beneficiaries from the original.

The municipality is given only until February 24 to distribute said shelter assistance because of Section 261 of Article XXII of the Omnibus Election Code (OEC) which states that release, disbursement or expenditures of public funds is prohibited starting from March 25 to May 8, 2016 (Section 261 (v), OEC), giving ample time also for liquidation..

Daram is a third class municipality in the province of Samar. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 41,322.  The said municipality is politically subdivided into 58 barangays.  One may get to the island in three ways:  a.) from Tacloban City, one may either take a two-hour motorboat ride direct from Tacloban to Daram b.)  a two-hour car ride from Tacloban City to Catbalogan City plus an hour ride via motorboat, or c.) a motorboat ride via Babatngon, Leyte to Talalura, Samar then to Daram. ###