GOV’T AID. Officials of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) holds media forum at the DSWD New Press Center at the central office in Quezon City on Thursday (Feb. 15, 2024). They assured families who continue to bear the brunt of the El Niño of the agency’s readiness to help them cope with its effects. (DSWD photo)
MANILA – Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Undersecretary for Disaster Response Management Group (DRMG) Diana Rose Cajipe on Thursday assured families who continue to bear the brunt of the El Niño of the agency’s readiness to help them cope with its effects.
During the DSWD’s media forum at the central office in Quezon City, Cajipe told reporters that the department will ensure food security through the prepositioning of family food packs (FFPs) in affected localities.
“Malaking tulong po ang mga naka-preposition natin na goods (Our pre-positioned goods are of big help). We are talking about the food packs, but aside from that, the regional offices ng DSWD are open to any referrals for those already affected by the El Niño,” Cajipe said during the media forum hosted by Spokesperson Romel Lopez and Traditional Media Service (TMS) Director Aldrine Fermin.
In the same forum, Special Assistant to the Secretary (SAS) for DRMG and Concurrent Director of National Resource and Logistics Management Bureau (NRLMB) Leo Quintilla said there are 849 warehouses around the country, including 780 identified warehouses of local government units (LGUs) and partners.
“What is important right now is we are doing the relief prepositioning agreement with our local government units. We also provide capacity building sa ating mga partners to ensure na ma-maintain natin yung (that we can maintain the) quality of our food and non-food items na naka-preposition sa kanilang mga (that are pre-positioned in their) warehouses,” Quintilla said.
The capacity building activities referred to by Quintilla include the monitoring of expiration, tagging, proper storage and quality checking of FFPs to ensure that the goods being distributed to disaster-affected families are safe to consume.
Aside from the prepositioning of FFPs, Lopez, who is also the agency’s Assistant Secretary for Strategic Communications, said the DSWD is working with the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the United Nations - World Food Programme (UN-WFP) in the implementation of Project LAWA or Local Adaptation to Water Access in selected municipalities from the provinces of Ifugao, Antique and Compostela in Davao de Oro.
Project LAWA aims to mitigate the impacts of drought and dry spells caused by the El Niño by establishing 90 small farm reservoirs (SFRs) in the selected provinces.
Under the project, residents in the pilot areas are provided with financial support, through the agency’s cash-for-work and cash-for-training, in exchange for the work they rendered in constructing the alternative water resources.
“Ito yung (This is the) whole-of-nation, whole-of-government approach just to make sure na (that) no one will be left behind dun sa tulong natin should itong effect talaga ng El Niño ay mas maramdaman (in our assistance should the effects of El Niño be strongly felt),” Lopez said. (PNA)
