Secretary Rex Gatchalian recently led the opening of a satellite office for the Crisis Intervention Section in Barangay Labangon, Cebu City, which will accommodate individuals and families availing of assistance through AICS of the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

The Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situations is a social protection program to support the recovery of those going through a crisis by giving them financial assistance and psychological intervention.

It provides transportation, medical, burial, education, food, material, and other cash through guarantee letters, food packs, and cash directly handed to them.

These services will help them cope with the present difficult situation they are experiencing, such as illness, death, loss of job or source of income, disasters, and calamities, among others.

DSWD Field Office 7 setup satellite offices in different municipalities and cities in Central Visayas to ensure that individuals needing assistance can avail of these aids and will no longer have to travel to the provincial centers, where DSWD Social Welfare and Development (SWAD) offices are.

Satellite offices are in Balilihan, Buenavista, Candijay, Guindulman, Sierra Bullones, Talibon, and Tubigon in Bohol; Cebu City, Cordova, Dalaguete, Dumanjug, Lapu-Lapu City, Liloan, Mandaue City, Medellin, Minglanilla, Oslob, Pinamungahan, and Talisay City in Cebu; La Libertad and Bayawan City in Negros Oriental.

For Siquijor province, the SWAD remains the only site where clients can get assistance.

Each satellite office will accommodate the constituents of the province’s congressional district, where these sites belong, for the fast, convenient, and orderly manner of assisting clients. Office hours are every Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and there would be a schedule per barangay.

The DSWD staff in satellite offices ensure fixing incidents will be avoided. “By decongesting our main and provincial SWAD offices, the staff could attend to the clients immediately because of the controlled number, which is more manageable at the satellite offices,” said DSWD Regional Director Shalaine Marie S. Lucero.

Secretary Gatchalian shared the same sentiment during the ceremony. He assured the public that DSWD would serve anyone who needed assistance through these satellite offices. “We want to make sure that you do not have to travel to our main offices just to get the assistance you need but avail of it at the sites near you,” the agency chief said.

To learn more about the assistance of AICS and the documentary requirements needed, DSWD is encouraging the public to visit their respective local social welfare and development offices, the official website, and the social media platforms of DSWD Field Office VII. ###

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