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[av_heading heading=’ Help displaced squatters – Legarda ‘ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=’30’ subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY PRINCE GOLEZ
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Tuesday, October 17, 2017
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MANILA – Immediate assistance must be given to all informal settler families (ISFs) affected by demolitions for infrastructure projects, according to Sen. Loren Legarda.
The Public Works department must provide them the support they need to start a new life, said Legarda, chairwoman of the Senate finance committee.
“There needs to be a plan when resettling ISFs,” she said. “We cannot just pull them out of one community [and transfer them] to another, and assume that they could just easily go on with their lives.”
Lost incomes and opportunities should be taken into account, too, said Legarda.
“We need to ensure that not only these families receive the basic provisions, such as water, electricity and shelter, but also financial and livelihood assistance so they could eventually provide for their own again,” she said.
Legarda suggested including financial and livelihood assistance for ISFs in the Department of Social Welfare and Development budget.
The department’s P7 billion unspent budget for its Sustainable Livelihood Program may be used for ISFs, too, she said.
“We want the 2018 budget to be pro-people, or makatao, by being as inclusive as possible: target those we haven’t reached, serve those who have been neglected and care for those who have been ignored,” said Legarda./PN
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