Efforts by personnel from the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) to immediately provide relief goods and other assistance to the victims of Typhoon Carina on Wednesday, 24 July, were thwarted, after heavy monsoon rains brought widespread flooding in Metro Manila and many other provinces in Luzon.

The PCSO team, led by General Manager Mel Robles, had planned to conduct a relief drive in Camanava area Wednesday. However, due to some impassable roads, they were forced to return to the office.

“We were literally stopped in our tracks by the heavy rains and massive flooding from bringing relief goods and other assistance to the victims especially those in the Camanava area,” GM Robles said in an interview.

He added that they had already prepared as early as yesterday afternoon the relief goods which were placed in plastic water pails called “Charitimba” for distribution, shortly after Malacanang ordered the suspension of work in government offices.

The PCSO will proceed with the distribution of relief goods tomorrow, along with the AACs who have expressed their willingness to participate in the relief operations.

This, as he instructed all PCSO branches and small-town lottery authorized agency corporations (AACs) to also conduct immediate relief drive in areas affected by the southwest monsoon and typhoon Carina.

The directive came after President Ferdinand Marcos issued an order to all frontline agencies to ensure timely assistance to families affected by the recent calamities.

"I have instructed our branch offices to coordinate with local government units for a swifter and smoother distribution of groceries and food packs to the affected families," GM Robles stated.

The contributions from various organizations and AACs for the relief efforts include:

- Hit It Big Gaming Corporation (Cagayan): 200 groceries

- Pines Estate and Gaming Corp. (Benguet and Baguio City STL-AAC): 30 sacks of rice

- Caloocan AAC: 10 cavans of rice

- Grand 888 AAC: 100 packs of groceries

- Great Mind Games and Amusement Corp., Muntinlupa: Groceries for 900 families

- Ludis Bay AAC Caloocan: 10 cavans of rice

- Pluto AAC-Manila: relief goods for 500 families

- Tiger Claws AAC-Pasay: relief good for 300 families

- IRIS ACC-Las Pinas: relief goods

- Winning Pick AAC-Malabon: relief goods

- Lucent AAC-Quezon City: relief goods

In a related development, the PCSO is scheduled to conduct a corporate social responsibility (CSR) activity tomorrow after the 2:00 pm draw.

During this event, they will distribute groceries, soup, and bread to those in need.

A state of calamity has been declared in the National Capital Region by the Metro Manila Council (MMC) on Wednesday following the massive flooding caused by the southwest monsoon or habagat which was exacerbated by tropical cyclone Carina.

The declaration came following a meeting by Metro Manila mayors presided by Interior and Local Government Secretary Benhur Abalos, which would enable the local government units to access emergency funds swiftly and implement relief operations to aid the displaced residents.