- CHERYL G. CRUZ
More food packs will be distributed to families affected by Typhoon Goring in Bacolod City, Negros Occidental, and other parts of Western Visayas.
“We expect the 11,700 FFPs (family food packs) bound for Western Visayas to reach the DSWD Field Office-6 on Aug. 30, from the Visayas Disaster Resource Center (VDRC) in Cebu,” DSWD-Disaster Response and Management Group assistant secretary Marlon Alagao said Tuesday.
The 11,700 FFPs are part of the 39,100 boxes of food packs for distribution to flood-hit areas in the Visayas and Mindanao until Aug. 31 as per orders of DSWD Secretary Rex Gatchalian.
DSWD6 director, Atty. Carmelo Nochete, said that, as of 12 noon Tuesday, they already extended more than P1 million worth of food and nonfood items to flood-affected families in the region, including in Bacolod City and Himamaylan City in Negros Occidental.
Nochete said that goods worth P411,341 were already distributed in Bacolod and P148,975 in FFPs in Himamaylan.
The DSWD also released P103,412 worth of goods for Valderrama, Antique; and P127,729 worth of goods for Guimbal, P253,470 in FFPs for Oton, and P50,200 of goods for Pavia, all in Iloilo province.
“The DSWD Field Office VI continues in responding to the needs of the affected families. Prior this, we have already placed goods in strategic locations so that the goods can reach the people at the shortest time possible,” he said in a statement, adding the agency has sufficient stockpile in its warehouses and strategic areas.
There are 13,522 FFPs worth P6.9 million, and P40.9-million worth of nonfood items at the regional warehouses and strategic sites, Nochete said. “The agency also maintains a P5.9-million standby fund to respond to any eventuality.”/CGC
