DILG: More than 8,000 LSIs to return home this weekend
Published Jul 24, 2020 5:40:37 PM
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, July 24) – A total of 8,408 locally stranded individuals will finally return to their home provinces this weekend through the government’s Hatid Tulong program, said Interior Secretary Eduardo Año on Friday.
Año said this exceeded the initial target number of 4,000 LSIs.
DILG said these LSIs are currently staying at the Philippine Army Gymnasium, Villamor Air Base Elementary School, and Manila Science High School.
It also added that this batch of returnees also includes those endorsed by the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples, other government agencies, and local government units.
Año will board 120 buses, five sea vessels, two of which are from the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources and three from the Philippine Coast Guard; and Philippine National Railways trains.
Food and non-food aid will be provided to the LSIs during their travel.
The first batch of LSIs under the Hatid Tulong program already returned to their provinces last July.
Meanwhile, DILG National Barangay Operations Office Director Dennis Villaseñor lso said that LSIs who wish to go home to LGUs that still have an existing moratorium will not yet be allowed to return to their provinces.
He said that they will be brought to a temporary housing facility in the City of San Jose Del Monte, Bulacan.
