Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Secretary Rolando Joselito Bautista personally visited some evacuation centers in the towns of Laurel and Agoncillo in Batangas, on July 2 to check  on the situation of the evacuees.

The Secretary assured the evacuees that the DSWD has enough resources to augment the resources of the local government units (LGUs) to respond to their needs.

As of July 3, more than 867 families have been affected by the Taal Volcano phreatomagmatic eruption, with 416 families or  1,712 individuals currently staying in 16 evacuation centers in the province.

So far, DSWD has already delivered 500 family tents and 1.048 million pieces of facemasks to Laurel, Batangas, and Batangas City after the Taal Volcano was placed under Alert Level 3 last July 1, while an additional 500 modular tents were sent to Batangas Sports Complex on July 2.

Moreover, as of July 2, the Department has dispatched 5,000 family food packs (FFPs) to Batangas Sports Complex, 1,500 FFPs to Agoncillo, and 2,000 FFPs for Laurel.

The Department continues to coordinate with LGUs to monitor the situation and to assess how the affected residents can be better assisted.  ###