SAN JOSE, Antique – The last batch of Antiqueño sugar migrants or “sacadas” stranded in Negros Occidental due to travel restrictions brought by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) were repatriated.
Randy Ardeño, in charge of the Provincial Planning and Development Office’s Sacada desk, said 44 sugar migrantsreturned in this province on June 10 after they were picked up at the Dumangas port in Dumangas, Iloilo.
Forty of the sugar migrants are from the town of Libertad while four are from Pandan, Ardeño said.
Upon their arrival, they were endorsed to their respective local government units to comply with the 14-day quarantine in COVID-19 isolation facilities.
Since May 18, this province recorded a total of 1,698 sacadas – also considered as locally stranded individuals – who were repatriated.
They were among those who were not allowed to return in their respective residences in Antique due to the extension of the general community quarantine in the province.
Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in Antique head Melrose Amaran, for her part, said the assistance to sugar migrants under the agency’s Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation (AICS) is ongoing.
According to her, the repatriated sacadas were given P3,000 cash per family.
The DSWD-Antique has already released AICS to a total of 178 sugar migrants in Culasi, 145 in Tibiao and eight in this capital town.
Antique’s sacadas who benefitted from the AICS were those who did not receive cash aid under the Social Amelioration Program and those who are not members of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program.
“The municipal social welfare and development offices (MSWDOs) are the ones assessing the sacadas so they could be given AICS by the DSWD,” Amaran said.
She added that the last batch of sugar migrants who were repatriated on June 10 have yet to be assessed by their respective MSWDOs as qualified to receive the AICS.(With a report from PNA/PN)
