The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) on Friday said it has provided more than P101 million worth of humanitarian aid to the families affected by the El Niño phenomenon.

"This is through Family Food Packs or FFPs dahil nga po ito yung immediate na pangangailangan ng ating mga kababayan na naapektuhan ng severe drought as a result of the El Niño phenomenon. (This is through FFPs because this is the immediate need of our countrymen who have been affected by the severe drought as a result of the El Niño phenomenon.)," Assistant Secretary for Disaster Response Management Group (DRMG) Irene Dumlao said.

Dumlao said as of 3 May, the DSWD has prepositioned 178,400 FFPs worth more than P121.6 million in strategic locations around the country.

Dumlao, who is also the agency's spokesperson, said the DSWD's National Resource and Logistics Management Bureau (NRLMB) is also ensuring the replenishment and availability of food and non-food items (FNIs) for resource augmentation to DSWD Field Offices as the need arises.

"Concerned local government units (LGUs) and other partners have also extended assistance to the affected families. Based on the latest report of our Disaster Response Operations Monitoring and Information Center (DROMIC), LGUs across the country have provided assistance amounting to P6.2 million while other partners have given P5.4 million worth of aid," Dumlao said.

As of press time, some 737,901 families or 3,095,107 individuals from 4,058 barangays in 13 regions (Regions 1, 2, 3, 4B, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, Cordillera Administrative Region [CAR] and Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao [BARMM]) have been affected by the dry spell.

The DSWD currently maintains more than P3.2 billion worth of stockpiles of relief supplies and standby funds ready to be used for disaster operations.