Relief assistance from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has reached more families who have been staying in temporary shelters and evacuation centers because of the series of eruptions of Mayon Volcano.

DSWD Officer-in-Charge (OIC) Emmanuel A. Leyco said that the agency through its Field Office 5 is focused on its efforts to assist local government units (LGUs) in meeting the needs of displaced residents.

“Based on our consultations with DSWD FO 5, we have enough provisions to augment the supplies we already prepositioned with the LGUs. We maintain a daily inventory of said supplies, and we closely monitor them to ensure that we can immediately send more from our warehouses in Pasay and Cebu,” OIC Leyco said.

Yesterday, DSWD Family Food Packs (FFPs) were distributed by the provincial action teams of Albay to families from Barangay Matanag, Legazpi City who are currently staying at Albay Central School, as well as to evacuees at Buraguis Elementary School, also in Legazpi.

Each DSWD food pack contains six kilos of rice, four cans of sardines, four cans of corned beef, and six packs of coffee.

The LGUs have also started the distribution of the DSWD dignity kits to the affected residents. The kits were distributed this week to evacuees at Budiao Elementary School in the Municipality of Bacacay and to families staying at Anoling Elementary School in Camalig, Albay, who have earlier received food packs from the Department.

Each dignity kit contains bath soap, detergent bar, toothbrushes, combs, alcohol, a nail cutter,  a whistle, toothpaste, bath towel, undergarments, and a flashlight with battery.

To help the province of Albay respond to the needs of its affected constituents, the DSWD sent additional relief assistance to the province last week, including 6,503 family food packs, 6,500 dignity kits, 2,000 assorted toys, and 6,503 blankets.

The assistance was on top of the earlier aid provided by the Department to the province and to Legazpi City, which included 5,500 FFPs and 11,000 malongs; and 500 food packs and 1,000 malongs, respectively.

The relief aid is being distributed by the Albay’s provincial action teams, provincial social welfare and development office, and LGUs.

DSWD also attended the meeting called by the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) on the instruction of President Rodrigo Duterte to construct additional toilets and temporary learning space in evacuation centers.

As of 6 am today, 23,250 families or 89,828 persons in 61 barangays in Albay have been affected the volcanic activities of Mayon.

Some 19,233 families or 72,972 persons are still taking temporary shelter in 76 open evacuation centers, while 2,901 families or 11,993 persons are staying with their relatives and friends.

The DSWD Field Office 5 also continues to monitor the status of the affected residents by conducting daily visits to temporary shelters. The FO also maintains its close coordination with concerned LGUs to ensure the continuous provision of aid to the evacuees and to determine other services that they need.

“Our Field Office is working 24/7 to ensure that affected Filipinos are provided for. We have also begun to implement temporary changes in the implementation of our programs such as the Pantawid ng Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) to accommodate the also sudden  changes in the situation faced by our beneficiaries in the region. We are waiving all 4Ps conditionalities for those affected by Mayon’s volcanic activities,” OIC Leyco concluded. #