Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Secretary Rex Gatchalian highlighted the agency’s new disaster preparedness program called Buong Bansa Handa during the 2023 Post-SONA Discussion on Environmental Protection and Disaster Management on Wednesday (July 26).

“DSWD has formulated the plan based on the President’s instruction to come up with fail-safe mechanisms for our supply chain. The goal there is to be omnipresent, so to speak,” Secretary Gatchalian explained.

Through the new disaster program, the DSWD chief said citizens will “feel that the government is there, in fact, ahead, during, and right after a storm or a natural calamity.”

The Buong Bansa Handa will tap two supply chains to deliver the basic food and non-food requirements of disaster victims.

The first supply chain will feature an expanded network of warehouse facilities of local government units (LGUs) provincial governments, other national government agencies, while the other one will be private-sector driven.

Secretary Gatchalian said the DSWD will procure the services of private sector-partners in the food distribution business through framework agreements or supply agreements to complement the government-driven supply chain line.

Through this system, the DSWD will be able to “make sure that government relief efforts or government relief packs are spread across the entire country,” the DSWD chief said.

The DSWD currently has over 1.3 million family food packs (FFPs) spread across the country that can be immediately distributed to LGUs affected by Super Typhoon Egay. #