The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has already provided PHP549,000 worth of assistance to families affected by the effects of the low-pressure area and the southwest monsoon or “habagat,” an agency official said on Monday.
During Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon briefing, Assistant Secretary Irene Dumlao said the assistance, in the form of family food packs (FFPs) and other non-food items, was distributed to families in Bulacan in Central Luzon, and Zamboanga City in Region 9 – the two areas greatly-affected by the LPA and “habagat”.
She said this is in line with the directives of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. to ensure the swift and efficient distribution of assistance to disaster-affected areas.
“Paunang assistance pa lamang po na naipaabot ng DSWD at ang halaga na iyan ay inaasahan natin na lumaki pa sapagkat nagpapatuloy pa rin ang koordinasyon ng DSWD sa mga local government units (LGUs) nang sa ganoon ay matugunan po natin iyong kanilang mga (That is just the initial assistance and we expect the amount to go higher as we continue to coordinate with LGUs so that we can provide their) requests for augmentation assistance,” the DSWD spokesperson said.
Based on their monitoring, Dumlao said there were more than 2,500 families or around 8,600 individuals in Central Luzon affected by the “habagat”.
Of these, 10 families or 49 individuals in Bulacan were sent to evacuation areas.
Meanwhile, around 1,200 families or 4,340 individuals in 14 barangays (villages) in Zamboanga City were affected by the LPA and “habagat”.
Of these, 641 families or around 2,500 individuals were in different evacuation centers.
Based on reports reaching their office, Dumlao said 65 houses, one in Bulacan and 64 in Zamboanga City, were partially damaged.
Dumlao assured that the DSWD has a sufficient supply of FFPs and other relief items through the implementation of the Buong Bansa Handa (BBH) program to ensure the well-being of Filipinos during calamities.
The agency’s BBH program is a whole-of-nation and whole-of-government approach that synergizes government and private sector resources, enabling the government to respond more swiftly and comprehensively to natural calamities while safeguarding the well-being of the affected families and individuals.
At present, Dumlao said the DSWD has three million boxes of FFPs prepositioned in 938 warehouses across the country.
“Sa kasalukuyan ang ating standby funds and stockpiles ay nagkakahalaga ng mahigit PHP3.2 billion. And patuloy pa rin po tayo na nagpo-produce ng family food packs diyan sa ating National Resource Operation Center (NROC) and sa Visayas Disaster Response Center (VDRC) sapagkat ang atin pong target talaga (Our standby funds and stockpile is worth more than PHP3.2 billion. And our NROC and VDRC are continuously producing FFPs because our target) is to maintain 3 million family food packs as national stockpile,” she said. (PNA)
