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The government-owned Land Bank of the Philippines said the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) used it to provide aid to typhoon-prone cities ahead of the disaster.
In a statement released on Friday, the lender said it would work with DSWD and Unicef to help around 22,000 people from typhoon-prone areas in Catanduanes and Northern Samar secure financial assistance ahead of a disaster.
Under the agreement, the bank would use its LandBank prepaid cards to facilitate the distribution of P1,000 multipurpose unconditional cash transfers to beneficiaries of DSWD’s conditional money transfer program. Funds transfers are made three days before a Category 4 or Category 5 typhoon is expected to make landfall.
Families living in the north Samar towns of Catarman, Catubig, Gamay, Mondragon and San Roque are among the program’s target beneficiaries, it was stressed.
The government-run bank said distributing cash transfers to select households from 4Ps (Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program) is part of the Central Emergency Response Fund for Anticipatory Action’s pilot tests in the country aimed at reducing the impact of typhoons on people reduce housing and livelihoods while enhancing the government’s mandatory preventive evacuation policy.
“LandBank’s collaboration with DSWD and Unicef ensures the delivery of immediate and secure cash assistance to vulnerable sectors in high-risk typhoon-prone cities,” Cecilia Borromeo, President and CEO of LandBank, was quoted as saying.
“This complements our efforts to build stronger and more resilient communities as part of our broader purpose of serving the nation.”
Beneficiaries can use the LandBank prepaid cards to make cashless purchases at point-of-sale terminals in pharmacies and grocery stores, and to make cashless withdrawals at LandBank ATMs and agent banking partners.
The financial institution said that in order to offer beneficiaries more convenient banking services, it has also upgraded beneficiaries’ existing LandBank prepaid cards to transaction accounts with additional features.
