DSWD screens families leaving Tacloban

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is keeping tabs on the families fleeing Tacloban City and towns in Leyte and Samar damaged by Typhoon Yolanda via military C-130 cargo planes.

Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman said they are monitoring the movement of these families to protect them from abuse, as well as allow authorities to know their whereabouts.

“We’re listing down, and finding out where they are or where they will go,” Soliman said.

Soliman said they also wanted to know about the people or families, whether relatives or friends, that will adopt them.

The DSWD, under “Oplan Yakap,” has been giving out forms to families who want to ride the military C-130s.

The military is taking them to Manila from Tacloban and they are given a form to fill up while being interviewed by social workers at the Tacloban airport.

A tent city was put up at Villamor Air Base in Pasay City to accommodate the thousands of evacuees who have no immediate place to go.

Some of the evacuees had been tapped for cheap labor.

The DSWD is moving “Oplan Hatid” tomorrow to Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City, the headquarters of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said Oplan Yakap and Oplan Hatid that were under the DSWD and Philippine Air Force (PAF) had decided to allow the evacuees to be transferred to Camp Aguinaldo for more efficient transportation and management of their needs.

He said the evacuees would be better off in Camp Aguinaldo because bus terminals are in Cubao.

Meanwhile, the Department of Health (DOH), for its part, will set up field clinics at Camp Aguinaldo to attend to the medical needs of the evacuees.

“All residents of Tacloban City coming to Metro Manila will be taken here directly for immediate medical assessment. A special clinic, especially for pregnant women and nursing mothers, will also be created,” said DOH NCR director Eduardo Janairo. – With Aurea Calica, Sheila Crisostomo