DSWD extends cash aid, food packs to 50 ex-rebels from Antique

From the Philippine News Agency (Apr 14, 2023): DSWD extends cash aid, food packs to 50 ex-rebels from Antique (By Annabel Consuelo Petinglay)

FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE. Former rebels in Antique receive their financial assistance from the Department of Social Welfare and Development during the distribution held in the municipality of Sebaste on Friday. A total of 50 former rebels received PHP5,000 each and food packs during the April 13-14 distribution. (PNA photo courtesy of Antique PSWDO)

SAN JOSE DE BUENAVISTA, Antique – The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), with the help of the Antique Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office (PSWDO), has released a total of PHP250,000 cash aid and food packs to 50 former rebels (FRs) from Antique province.

“The FRs were given assistance right in their municipalities in San Remigio, Sibalom, Sebaste, Culasi, and Pandan,” said James Rubino, in charge of the PSWDO End to Local Communist Armed Conflict (ELCAC) program.

The two-day distribution held on April 13-14 benefited the former rebels who surrendered in 2021 and 2022 and have availed of the ELCAC program through Executive Order 70 mandating the whole-of-nation approach to end the local communist insurgency.

The assistance worth PHP5,000 each is released every four months to sustain them as they return to the fold of the government.

The food packs contain rice, canned goods, coffee, and other food items.

“There were actually 60 FRs in Antique who had surrendered in 2021-2022 because of Executive Order 70,” Rubino said.

The 50 FRs are holders of the Joint Philippine National Police-Armed Forces of the Philippines Intelligence Certificate (JPIC) while the 10 others are still waiting for their documents, she added.

The JPIC is a certification that the FR has no pending case in court.

It is a requirement for them to receive assistance from the DSWD, and the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) through their Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integration Program (ECLIP) and from other national government agencies.

The FRs already received PHP20,000 for their identified livelihood projects such as cattle-fattening or hog-raising under the Sustainable Livelihood Program of the DSWD in 2021.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1199454