DAVAO CITY — The Office of First Congressional District Representative Paolo Duterte ordered on Friday the distribution of 8,000 packs of rice to various municipalities, particularly in Carmen, Busaon, Tuganay, Sto. Tomas and Panabo City in Davao del Norte as an aid to the affected families by landslide and flood.

This comes as the Office of the Civil Defense in Region 11 reported that Davao del Norte, particularly Carmen town, had the highest number of individuals affected by the calamity with 34,000; Davao Oriental with 23,000; Davao de Oro with 12,000; and Davao City with more than 8,000.

It also revealed that 72,000 families or 278,000 individuals were affected by the LPA as 12,978 families, or 44,720 persons took temporary shelter earlier at the evacuation centers while 11,836 were outside or at home.

“Our Pulong Pulong ni Pulong relief operations continue within Davao City and neighboring provinces to ensure we reach the families affected and provide immediate aid,” Duterte said.

Meanwhile, almost 5,000 families here affected by flooding caused by the trough of a low-pressure area received relief assistance from the lawmaker’s team led by his son, Rodrigo “Rigo” Duterte I.

The team distributed food packs, water containers, and other essentials to flood victims in barangays 19-B, 2-A, 1-A, 10-A, and 9-A.

Duterte’s office will also assist barangays 8-A, 5-A, Matina Crossing (Gravahan) and Maa and at least 17,322 families from these barangays are expected to receive the same assistance from Duterte through the PPP program.

“We distributed the assistance to the barangays since Wednesday, to ensure relief was delivered directly to the communities,” Duterte said.