Aid to RSSI-hit sugarcane workers to hit P1.9B by yearend, says DSWD

BACOLOD CITY — The Department of Social Welfare and Development’s ongoing distribution of Emergency Cash Transfers (ECT) to small sugarcane farmers and workers whose crops have been destroyed by red-striped soft scale insects (RSSI) in Negros Island will hit P1.9 billion before the end of this year, Social Welfare Secretary Rex Gatchalian said on Tuesday, Sept. 22.

The distribution will cover about 190,000 beneficiaries in Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental who will receive a little over P10,000 each, said Gatchalian, who joined the 2026 “Bayani Ka! Cum Tatak KALAHI-CIDSS LGU Awards and Performance-Based Grant for Sustainability” at SM Sky Hall here.

The agency will make sure the distribution is completed as soon as possible, he said.

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He said Negros Island will be the largest recipient of the ECT because it has been the worst hit by the RSSI.

Payouts will also cover small sugarcane farmers and their workers in portions of Iloilo, Capiz, and Bukidnon, he added.

The number of recipients is being validated as they go along and updated.

“We have enough funds; it is being drawn from the quick response fund,” Gatchalian said.

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“The President has always made it a priority to address the needs of the poor, marginalized, and vulnerable,” he said.

DSWD NIR Regional Director Arwin Razo said that as of Friday, Sept. 18, the DSWD had distributed P410,283,675 to 39,847 sugarcane farmers in Negros.

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The RSSI damages sugarcane crops by feeding directly on the stalks and leaves, sucking out vital plant sap and causing severe nutritional depletion, the Sugar Regulatory Administration said earlier.

As the insects feed, they excrete a sticky honeydew substance that fosters the rapid spread of black sooty mold across the leaves, which blocks sunlight and severely hinders the sugarcane’s ability to photosynthesize.

Over time, this combined stress turns the stalks black and brittle, stunts overall plant growth, and can reduce the sucrose content in harvested sugarcane by up to 50 percent, resulting in severe yield declines and heavy economic losses for sugar planters.

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The DSWD is distributing the assistance to help mitigate the farmers’ losses. INQ