The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) are set to enter into an agreement to make ready-to-eat food (RTEF) packs readily-available in seaports nationwide ahead of disasters.
Special Assistant to the Secretary (SAS) Leo Quintilla of the DSWD’s Disaster Response Management Group (DRMG) said this collaboration will result in faster and more efficient relief response when disasters strike and lead to disrupted sea transport.
“We are going to preposition these products with our agency partner, the Philippine Ports Authority. Remember pag may bagyo, nagkakaroon ng paghinto ng mga byahe ng barko, meron tayong maraming mga stranded passenger, so this will now support the needs of our stranded passengers,” SAS Quintilla, who is also the concurrent officer in charge of the National Resource and Logistics Management Bureau (NRLMB), said at the DSWD Thursday Media Forum on June 26.
The agreement, which will allow the DSWD to preposition the RTEF in PPA-managed facilities nationwide, will be signed by the two government bodies on Friday (June 27).
“Itong ready to eat food natin, very important in crisis or emergency situation, because it provides yung tinatawag natin na readily available nutrition. At also, pag sinabi natin na ready to eat food, minimal yung preparation. Hindi ka na magluluto so automatic yan, na pag-open na yan ay pwede na natin makain,” SAS Quintilla said.
The RTEF is the latest innovation of the DSWD in the area of disaster response, a product of a year-long preparation of the agency in collaboration with the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) – Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI).
The RTEF contains nutritious pre-cooked meals that will form part of the DSWD’s relief items which will be distributed to affected families within 24 to 48 hours after the onset of a disaster.
“Itong RTEF natin may five cans of tuna paella; and then meron siyang isang can ng chicken pastil at isang can ng giniling; meron din siyang arroz caldo, two packs; three packs of champorado; two protein biscuits or bar and meron din siyang isang complementary food for infant,” SAS Quintilla told reporters.
The DSWD has, so far, produced 120,000 boxes of RTEF, up for prepositioning not only in seaports, but also in other agency warehouses and storing facilities nationwide for distribution to disaster areas, as necessary.
It will scale up the agency’s means to provide appropriate resources to ensure that no one will go hungry in times of disasters, in accordance with President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr’s marching order.
“Also, we will use our RTEF para sa mga disaster incidents like fire incident, for example, nasunog ‘yung bahay, the next 24 to 48 hours, this product will provide number one nutrition, second yung well-being ma-uplift natin because may ready ka nang pagkain, so ito po yung naging purpose ng ating ready to eat food,” the DSWD official pointed out. (LSJ)