DSWD chief to prioritize aid to sugar workers

MANILA, Philippines - Social welfare secretary Esperanza Cabral will prioritize assistance to sugar workers in Negros Occidental province who stand to be affected by the "dead season."

Online news site Visayan Daily Star reported that the assurance came from deputy presidential spokesman Anthony Golez Jr., who visited the province.

"She told me she would review the situation thoroughly and prioritize Negros Occidental," Golez recalled Cabral telling him at a recent Cabinet meeting.

Local residents and sugar industry leaders in Negros Occidental are girding for an early and long dead season that could last five months due to low sugar production.

Provincial governor Isidro Zayco created a provincial sugar industry task force to come up with a plan to address the problem.

The task force will request the Department of Labor and Employment to release P30 million for a rice subsidy program for sugar workers during the dead season. - GMANews.TV