The Department of Social Welfare and Development has expanded the scope of its “Pag-abot Program” in the Visayas with the inauguration of the new Pag-abot Processing Center in Liloan town in Cebu province.
President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. and DSWD Secretary Rex Gatchalian on Thursday led the inauguration and blessing of the P17.99 million facility that can provide temporarily shelter to at least 120 homeless individuals.
“If in the past we were waiting for our citizens to come to say that they need help to go home to their provinces, now we have reversed the process. We are the ones who go out, reach out so that we can make sure that the families, individuals who live on the streets are given enough help and care by the government,” Gatchalian said.
The processing center for families and individuals in street situation (FISS) is equipped with a medical clinic; dormitories and rooms with individual toilet and bathroom; a communal comfort room with five toilets and four shower rooms; an administrative office; an activity area; a prayer room; kitchen and dining area; conference room; profiling area; baggage counter; stockroom; and a laundry area with clothesline.
The Pag-abot Program’s daily reach-out operations will cover the cities of Mandaue, Lapu-Lapu, Cebu, and Talisay.
Social workers will identify and encourage families and individuals in street situations (FISS) to transfer to the processing center, where services begin with profiling and documentation.
“We will make sure that we understand their situation so that after 30 days, when we return them to the community, they will have an economic grant, which means livelihood, or whatever else they need to be successful in their lives and not have to go back to the streets,” the DSWD chief said.
Gatchalian said the expansion in Cebu follows three years of implementation in Metro Manila and Luzon and responds to patterns observed in highly urbanized areas, where migration in search of work can sometimes result in homelessness.
Under the Pag-abot Program, beneficiaries are issued identification cards (IDs), receive case management, and gain access to economic grants and other forms of support aimed at preventing a return to street life.
Reintegration efforts are carried out in coordination with local government units and the beneficiaries’ families in their home communities.
