A total of 12,090 beneficiaries from Rizal Province had completed various projects amounting to PhP31.68 million focusing on climate change adaptation and mitigation under the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s (DSWD) cash-for-work scheme.

Majority of these participants are beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program and members of poor households in the Listahanan database of the DSWD.

Projects include tree planting / reforestation; cleaning of clogged canals, lake and river; desilting of water ways; concreting of pavement, and; proper disposal and recycling of waste materials.

All the beneficiaries were engaged for a total of 10 days each for PhP262.00 per day.

The said cash-for-work activities were part of the national government’s Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation (CCAM) priority program for the year 2015. These aimed to strengthen the resiliency of natural ecosystems and the adaptive capacities of vulnerable groups and communities to short and long-term risks.

The DSWD Field Office IV-A identified Antipolo City and the 13 municipalities in Rizal Province as priority areas because they are usually affected by disasters and are assessed to be flood and landslide prone areas by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Mines and Geosciences Bureau.

The cash-for-work activities were conducted in different batches and were implemented by their respective LGUs from September 2015 to April 2016.

In the town of Cainta, which has a very high susceptibility to flood and is one of the first municipalities to implement the project, cash for work-activities focused on clearing and concreting of canals and pathways. The town engaged a total of 1,400 beneficiaries amounting to PhP3.67 million.

In Binangonan, on the other hand, activities included declogging of canals and waterways and collection and disposal of plastic and other wastes from February to April 2016. They engaged a total of 700 beneficiaries with a total fund of PhP1.83 million.

The DSWD Field Office IV-A commends the 14 LGUs of the province for their active participation in the implementation of projects relative to the mitigation of the effects of climate change starting from the submission of activity proposals, targeting of beneficiaries and actual monitoring of the activities.# with reports from JCJerusalem