DSWD ready amid habagat onslaught

Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Secretary Rex Gatchalian on Friday reported to President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. that the agency is continuing its disaster response operations for the effects of severe tropical storm “Enteng,” while ensuring there will be enough relief items in preparation for possible weather disturbances in the next two weeks.

“Mr. President, you are right, we cannot predict the end of the “Enteng” response with the incoming storms, but based on your last instructions, we are doing response, stockpiling, and procuring all at the same time,” Gatchalian said during a situation briefing on the effects of “Enteng” in Rizal Province held at the Ynares Events Center in Antipolo City.

According to the DSWD chief, the agency is halfway through the estimated 500,000 FFPs (Family Food Packs) intended for Enteng-hit families.

“For FFPs, half a million, 500,000 nationwide. We are halfway through and the requests are slowing down. So, we’ll be able to process everything by the end of this week. All of them will be fully deployed, and then we can start stockpiling for the next two storms coming in,” Gatchalian said.

The DSWD has so far released a total of 265,104 FFPs nationwide as augmentation support to the affected local government units (LGUs), according to Secretary Gatchalian.

These FFPs, he said, are either prepositioned in the DSWD Field Offices, released to LGUs, or currently being delivered/picked-up by LGUs.

The President also asked for updates from Secretary Gatchalian on the provision of cash assistance on top of FFPs.

“We are, of course, still providing food packs and non-food items, but with typhoons, we always reach the point where people ask for cash because they have their own needs for babies, they have to buy baby food, and so on. So, food packs are not enough,” the President said.

 In response, Gatchalian reported the agency will start the distribution of financial assistance to affected families next week.

“Mr. President, that [cash aid distribution] will commence by next week. Now they are still on FFP requests, and we are starting to get the cash payout schedules for next week in the affected areas. That’s also taken care of, Mr. President,” the DSWD chief said.

Before adjourning, President Marcos instructed the DSWD chief to continue its disaster response efforts.

“DSWD, you carry on. You know what to do. We are unfortunately all too familiar with this situation,” the Chief Executive said.

According to the DSWD chief, the agency has released 41,961 family food packs (FFPs) in CALABARZON, of which 28,100 boxes were distributed in the province of Rizal.

“Mr. President, for CALABARZON we released 41,961 FFPs, of which a greater chunk went to Rizal, 28,100, that’s spread across the different levels of government, some to the provinces, some to the municipalities,” the DSWD secretary said.

Gatchalian also assured President Marcos that the agency is continuously processing requests from the affected LGUs of the province of Rizal.

“We have been coordinating with the province and congressional representatives as to where we need to deploy more family food packs,” the DSWD chief said.