In coordination with the DSWD-NCR Crisis Intervention Unit, Manila Police District, Special Mayor’s Reaction Team (SMaRT), Manila Health Department and 2Go Travel, the Manila Department of Social Welfare was able to give assistance to more than a hundred individuals who wanted to go back to their hometowns and reintegrate with their families amid the pandemic.
This, after the Department conducted interviews and series of dialogues with street dwellers and Locally Stranded Individuals who were rescued through MDSW’s reach-out operations.
“We spearheaded this program in order to help out individuals in our rescue facilities who might want to be reintegrated with their families in places outside the City of Manila. Oplan Balik Tahanan will also help us decongest our rescue facilities and make them safer places to stay for the rest of our homeless and street dwellers,” said MDSW Director Re Fugoso.
Applicants of the said program need to undergo quarantine as part of the requirement of the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases while their documents are carefully assessed and processed by the MDSW.
The MDSW Director also expressed her gratitude towards the offices who helped their Department make Oplan Balik Tahanan possible.
In relation to this, an amount of P 403,000 was provided by the DSWD-NCR Crisis Intervention Unit as transportation assistance to the beneficiaries of the program.
The MDSW Rescue Team recently conducted reach-out operations in various areas of the city. The team was able to help out a total of 67 individuals including 60 adults, 4 minors and 3 senior citizens on September 14.
The rescued individuals are currently staying in the city's rescue facilities while MDSW staff and volunteers continue to provide them with food and medical care.
The Department regularly holds its reach-out operations in accordance with Mayor Francisco "Isko Moreno" Domagoso's plan to help out homeless and street dwellers during the pandemic.