As the Vice Chair of the Disaster Response Cluster, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and its partner international organizations inaugurated the re-installed Mechanized Production System (MPS) of the Visayas Disaster Resource Center (VDRC) on June 22 in Tingub, Mandaue City, Cebu.
The MPS is expected to boost the capacity of the VDRC to rapidly produce 50,000 family food packs (FFPs) in one day, which is enough to feed 250,000 people for three days. It is composed of the following features: rice bagging machines; case erectors; packaging conveyor lines; pallet building and loading system; and, pallet racking system which improves the storage, accessibility, mobility and tracking of goods inside the VDRC warehouse.
From 2016 up to May 2022, the VDRC has already produced more than 2 million FFPs and released 1.9 million FFPs to localities in Visayas and Mindanao which were affected by various disasters such as typhoons and the COVID-19 pandemic.
The enhancement of the MPS is a continuation of the strategic partnership between DSWD and the United Nations World Food Programme (UN WFP) to further enhance the Philippine government’s emergency response and supply chain capacity.
The inauguration was attended by DSWD Undersecretary Felicisimo C. Budiongan, WFP Philippines Country Director Ms. Brenda Barton, DSWD Field Office VII Assistant Regional Director Shalaine Marie S. Lucero, DSWD National Resource Logistics and Management Bureau (NRLMB) Director Emmanuel P. Privado.
In his message, Undersecretary Budiongan thanked DSWD’s international partners for their support. He said, “I would like to extend our gratitude to the UNWFP for helping us in the establishment of disaster response centers or DRCs in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao in order to improve and de-centralize the Philippine government’s response during disasters and calamities. The placement of DRCs enhanced the capacity of the Philippine government to produce and store FFPs in multiple strategic locations which can easily be accessible via land, air, and sea transport.”
The DSWD will continue to enhance its partnerships with other agencies and institutions to enhance the emergency response capacity of the Philippine government. ###
