Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Secretary Rex Gatchalian on Tuesday (August 29) directed the Disaster Response and Management Group (DRMG) to immediately dispatch thousands of food packs to flood-affected areas in the Visayas as well as in Mindanao.

DRMG Assistant Secretary Marlon Alagao told the DSWD chief that he is already coordinating with the Visayas Disaster Resource Center (VDRC) for the swift dispatch of family food packs (FFPs) for Western Visayas (Region 6) and Eastern Visayas (Region 8) regions and Northern Mindanao (Region 10).

“We have coordinated with VDRC, which can prepare 39,100 FFPs for dispatch Tuesday (August 29) until Thursday (August 31),” Asst. Sec. Alagao reported to the DSWD chief.

The VDRC is the counterpart of the National Resource Operations Center (NROC) based in Pasay City. The VDRC is located in Cebu province, which is the center of the Visayas region.

Based on the VDRC schedule, 11,700 FFPs will be dispatched Tuesday to Field Office-6, which covers the Western Visayas provinces of Aklan, Antique, Capiz, Guimaras, Iloilo and Negros Occidental, and the two highly urbanized cities of Bacolod and Iloilo.

“We expect the 11,700 FFPs bound for Western Visayas to reach the DSWD Field Office-6 on Wednesday (August 30).

On Wednesday (August 30), 12,900 boxes of FFPs are scheduled for delivery to Field Office-10 that covers the Northern Mindanao provinces of Lanao del Norte, Camiguin, Misamis Occidental, Misamis Oriental, and Bukidnon.

The 14,500 boxes of FFPs bound for Southern Leyte (Region 8) will be dispatched by the VDRC on Thursday (August 31), according to the DRMG.

The DSWD Field Offices were created to help meet the social welfare needs of the people living in the different regions in the country, particularly those areas considered as disaster-prone.#