DSWD steps up relief ops across rain-hit regions

The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) said Sunday it is expanding resource augmentation to assist families affected by the southwest monsoon and recent tropical cyclones across the country.

DSWD Assistant Secretary Irene Dumlao said in a radio interview that the agency has already distributed more than 2.3 million family food packs from its national inventory to support local government relief operations.

Relief teams delivered an additional 63,000 food packs to Central Luzon on Saturday, focusing on flood-damaged communities in Pampanga.

Meantime, mobile kitchens were deployed to provide hot meals to displaced residents in evacuation centers across Lubao and Porac, while initial cash assistance was distributed to affected households in Zambales.

Agency data shows more than 1,000 evacuation centers are currently operating nationwide, housing approximately 35,000 families, or 120,000 individuals.

The displacement follows the combined impact of Tropical Cyclones Luis, Maymay and Neneng alongside seasonal monsoon rains.

Dumlao said disaster response centers in Luzon and the Visayas are producing more than 2,000 food packs daily. Production is supplemented by supply framework agreements with private distributors to maintain operational stocks.

Out of 5 million food packs produced by the agency, approximately 3.5 million remain prepositioned in strategic regional warehouses.

The social welfare department is also calling on volunteers to assist with repacking operations at the Luzon Disaster Resource Center in Pasay City and the Visayas Disaster Resource Center in Mandaue City, Cebu.