LEGAZPI CITY, Albay, July 2 (PIA) – Fifteen municipalities in Bicol region will receive funding from the Department of Social Welfare and Development Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan – Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (DSWD Kalahi-CIDSS), for the implementation of Disaster Response Operations Procedure (DROP).

A total amount of P141,768,300.00, these municipalities were chosen based on income class, poverty incidence, population, performance of the local government units (LGUs) in the previous cycles and non-implementation of fourth cycle of the program, DSWD Bicol regional director Arnel Garcia said.

These towns are Pandan, with an allocation of P8,726,850.00; Bato, with P7,993,600.00; San Miguel, with P5,642,800.00; Panganiban got P3,895,200.00; and Baras got P4,897,200.00 for the province of Catanduanes.

In Sorsogon province, the municipalities of Sta. Magdalena got P6,608,000.00; Casiguran has P12,398,000.00; Barcelona with P8,136,000.00 and Castilla with P18,516,050.00.

The municipalities of Dimasalang also received P11,360,250.00 and Baleno got P9,760,400.00, all in Masbate province; towns of Vinzons got P14,670,250.00 and San Lorenzo Ruiz got P5,666,400.00 in Camarines Norte for the DROP implementation.

In Camarines Sur, towns Lupi, with P10,541,300.00 and Canaman with P12,956,000.00 are also beneficiaries of the program.

“The allocation for each municipality was computed based on the income class, poverty incidence and population,” Garcia explained.

On June 4, DSWD Bicol announced the shift of program implementation from LGU-led implementation to DROP in assisting the recovery and rehabilitation of communities from coronavirus disease (COVID-19) crisis.

“The sub-projects that are eligible for funding under the COVID-19 Disaster Response are Cash-For-Work (CFW) for community volunteers or residents, training of Barangay COVID-19 Response Team, retrofitting or refurbishing of identified public buildings as temporary isolation space, procurement of Department of Health (DOH)-approved medical tools and equipment, procurement of Personal Protection Equipment (PPE), hygiene kits, sanitation and cleaning supplies,” Garcia added.

He noted that using the principles of community driven development (CDD), the community will be consulted on the possible projects to be implemented based on their needs. The DROP implementation will roll-out this June 2020. (NNL/DSWD5/PIAV)