The City Government of Navotas has started the distribution of calamity financial assistance to special education (SPED) students.
At the same time, it has begun hiring 1,500 jeepney drivers and indigent residents for the Cash for Work program of the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
Some 326 SPED students received financial aid worth P1,000. Of this number, 307 are elementary, five are high school, and 14 are college students.
Beneficiaries are students who are registered in the Persons with Disabilities (PWD) Students Educational Assistance/Scholarship of the city government.
“Providing and caring for people who are differently-abled, especially children with special needs, is never easy. The pandemic and the long period of community quarantine made it more difficult, health and money-wise,” Mayor Toby Tiangco said.
“We hope the financial assistance they received will help relieve their burdens and motivate them to keep going,” he added.
The Persons with Disability Affairs Office (PDAO) realigned P380,000 from its 2020 budget to fund the initiative.
Last June, PWD student scholars received their January-March cash allowance worth P1,500. The scholarship provides beneficiaries with P500 monthly educational assistance or P5,000 per academic year.
Meanwhile, cash for work beneficiaries will do barangay clean-up, urban gardening, tree planting, and other climate change mitigation and adaptation-related activities. They will receive P4,050 after 10 days of work. Jun David
Navoteños aged 22 to 59, except for pregnant women, are eligible to apply for the program until August 28.
“Many lost their jobs due to business closure or downsizing. That is why we look for ways to lessen the impact of the crisis in our city and on our people,” Tiangco said.