DSWD readies 100T food packs

CEBU, Philippines - At least 100,000 food packs are being readied by the Department of Social Welfare and Development-7 for distribution to areas that will be affected by typhoon Ruby.

DSWD-7 will again serve as relief operation hub for Eastern Visayas.

Information officer Leah Quintana said they have now 30,000 available food packs ready for distribution. Aside from the food packs there is also P1 million cash assistance ready.

  Each food pack consists six kilos of rice, 10 assorted canned goods, coffee, noodles, and powdered drinks. Quintana said that, so far, only the town of Liloan has gotten at least 500 food packs. There were, however, requests from the towns of Sogod, Daanbantayan, Tabogon, Tabuelan, San Francisco, Santa Fe, and Borbon.

"Among paningkamutan nga mahatud namo ang sa Camotes kay lisud na pud kung kusog na ang hangin," Quintana told The FREEMAN.

She said their priority is the island towns because of the transportation problem.

Jenny Abastillas, DSWD disaster focal person, is also calling for volunteers to help them pack relief goods at the Cebu International Convention Center in Mandaue City.

"All our employees are now at the CICC packing foods and we also encourage others if they could help us," Abastillas said.

"We can help but we can no longer distribute the food packs so we have to tap other agencies like the Philippine Navy to help us distribute food packs," she added.

Meanwhile, Navy Lieutenant Commander Joel Villarosa, who serves as operations officer of the Joint Task Force-7 of the Armed Forces of the Philippines-Central Command, said they already received a call from DSWD-7 yesterday asking for assistance in sending food items for the residents in the islets of Bantayan.

These residents were reportedly not able to leave the islets and transfer to safer areas due to rough sea conditions.

Villarosa, however, said that they cannot yet send the food packs because sea travels are not allowed.

"Naka-ready naman ang ating mga assets pero due to the storm, we cannot still operate for now. We cannot risk the safety ng personnel natin," he said.

He added that for now, they have to wait until it is already advised to venture out over the seaboards so they can send the food items to the islets.

Villarosa said they have prepared mobility assets for the land, sea, and air including 12 naval assets and three helicopters for the entire Visayas.

There are also 8,000 soldiers ready to conduct search, rescue, and retrieval operations across the Visayas region. — Ria Mae Y. Booc and Grace Melanie I. Lacamiento/FPL (FREEMAN)