Families of 83 Yolanda casualties get cash aid

ILOILO CITY, Philippines — The Office of the Civil Defense-Region 6 released a total of P830,000 in financial assistance to 83 families whose immediate members were among the 264 casualties recorded in Western Visayas when super typhoon Yolanda hit Western Visayas almost nine months ago.

Of the 264 casualties, 159 of them were in Iloilo province, 77 in Capiz, 14 in Aklan, 11 in Antique, two in Negros Occidental and one in Guimaras.

OCD-6 director Rosario Cabrera said out of 83 beneficiary-families, 50 were from Capiz, 18 from Iloilo, nine from Aklan, four from Antique and one each from Negros Occidental and Guimaras.

The family of each casualty received P10,000 in funeral assistance, said Cabrera, adding that documents for 58 more families in Iloilo are now being processed at the Central Office of OCD in Manila for the release of their cash assistance anytime this month.

Cabrera however said the families of the 30 missing persons, whose bodies have yet to be found, and of the 58 unidentified cadavers buried in a mass grave in Estancia town of Iloilo, would not be given financial aid. — (FREEMAN)