The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) currently has a national stockpile of 1.3 million family food packs (FFPs) to augment the needs of local government units (LGUs) still recovering from the effects of previous storms and those that may be affected by the approaching Typhoon Pepito.
At a situation briefing on Friday (November 15) at the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) office at Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City, DSWD Secretary Rex Gatchalian reported to President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr the agency’s disaster response efforts for Typhoons ‘Pepito, ‘Ofel,’ and ‘Nika’.
“We maintain a 1.3 million stockpile of FFPs nationwide. We’re not dropping that. Then we’re now utilizing two supply lines. Simultaneously, we’re producing from Central Luzon, Pasay City, and Cebu,” Secretary Gatchalian told President Marcos.
“We’re already getting our suppliers delivered to us prepacked. So dalawa na. While we’re producing, we’re also receiving prepacked levels,” the DSWD chief pointed out.
Secretary Gatchalian said the agency is enhancing its repacking efforts while procuring prepacked food packs to expedite preparations for Typhoon Pepito.
The strategy falls under the agency’s Buong Bansa Handa mechanism, which facilitates the activation of two supply chains simultaneously, especially during disasters.
The first supply chain focuses on improving the production capabilities and processes at the DSWD’s National Resource Operations Center (NROC) in Pasay City, the Visayas Disaster Resource Center (VDRC) in Cebu, and various warehouse and storage facilities across the 16 DSWD Field Offices.
According to Secretary Gatchalian, this system was fully activated at the DSWD Central Luzon hub in San Simon, Pampanga to accelerate relief support for families affected by Typhoon Kristine and for previous storms that impacted Northern Luzon.
“After the impact of Kristine, we produced supplies from our National Resource Operations Center in Pasay, then we opened another center in Central Luzon and the Visayas Disaster Response Center, which assisted in supplying the Bicol Region,” the DSWD chief explained.
Secretary Gatchalian also mentioned the second supply chain, which involves collaborations with the private sector to meet the needs of families in various disaster-stricken areas.
The DSWD chief said the Department plans to increase its daily production of FFPs between 50,000 and 85,000 boxes per day to avoid straining the supply chain.
“Mr. President, our usual production in Luzon was 35,000 FFPs daily. Next week, we will reach 85,000, and it won’t drop to 50,000 because we expect Pepito to be very severe. That’s why we are coordinating everything for next week,” the DSWD chief said.
With this production capacity, Secretary Gatchalian assured the President that the agency could produce 1 million FFPs by December 7, in addition to the 1.3 million FFPs currently in stock.
Despite the increasing demand, the DSWD chief was confident that the agency would have relief supplies, citing the recent replenishment of the Department’s Quick Response Funds (QRF).
“Ang lagi hong tinatanong kung kaya pa natin? Masasabi po na kaya po natin because we just got our QRF and we can produce another 1 million FFPs on top of the 1.3 million FFPs that are spread across our warehouses, spokes, and last-mile facilities nationwide,” the DSWD Secretary said.
DSWD exec briefs media on agency’s continuing prepositioning of relief supplies
Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Asst. Secretary Irene Dumlao, together with Executive Director of the Office of Civil Defense (OCD), Undersecretary Ariel Nepomuceno, briefs media members on the Department’s continued prepositioning of relief supplies and the ongoing resource augmentation efforts for typhoon-affected local government units (LGUs) during the Saturday Media Forum on November 16 at the Dapo Restaurant in Quezon City.
DSWD exec assures enough resources for disaster operations amid series of typhoons
The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has sufficient resources for its ongoing disaster operations related to the typhoons affecting the country, including the most recent storm ‘Pepito.’
A senior DSWD official made the assurance during the Media Forum on Saturday (November 16) in Quezon City.
“DSWD has enough resources. We are grateful to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) because we recently received a replenishment of Php875 million for our Quick Response Fund (QRF),” said Disaster Response Management Group (DRMG) Asst. Secretary Irene Dumlao, when asked if the agency’s resources had been depleted due to the numerous typhoons.
Asst. Secretary Dumlao explained that the replenishment of the QRF allows the DSWD to fulfill its mandate to provide additional support to local government units (LGUs) affected by disasters.
“With the QRF, nakapag-procure tayo ng additional raw materials na gagamitin para sa mga family food packs (FFPs) na pino-produce sa ating mga hubs. Also, we are able to draw down pre-packed items from the existing framework agreement with our partner retailers and distributors,” Asst. Secretary Dumlao, who is also the DSWD spokesperson, said.
“Ito ngang pag-procure natin ng mga additional welfare goods ay magagamit natin para maghanda sa mga susunod pang bagyo,” Asst. Secretary Dumlao said.
The spokesperson said the DSWD is allowed to request another replenishment once the Quick Response Fund (QRF) obligations have reached 50 percent or more.
Asst. Secretary Dumlao further explained that with the additional raw materials acquired from the QRF replenishment, the combined production capacity of the agency’s Northern Luzon hubs and the Visayas Disaster Resource Center (VDRC) would increase to 50,000 FFPs daily or more.
“So, we hope that walang masyadong emergencies in December, and iyong pino-produce natin na FFPs will be good until the second week of December,” the DSWD official pointed out.
Continued prepositioning
Asst. Secretary Dumlao noted that while prepositioned goods are already in place in regions along Typhoon Pepito’s path, the DSWD has intensified its prepositioning efforts.
“Bagamat meron tayong mga naka-preposition na goods sa mga areas [Bicol, Northern Luzon, Eastern Visayas] dyan, nag-reinforce tayo,” the assistant secretary said.
The VDRC has delivered 30,000 FFPs to the Bicol Region.
However, due to the suspension of sea travel at Port Allen, the goods have been redirected to the agency’s Northern Samar warehouse.
Another 50,000 FFPs are being loaded today, November 16, at the National Resource Operations Center (NROC) in Pasay City. They are destined for Region 2 (Cagayan Valley) in the provinces of Cagayan, Isabela, and Quirino.
Assistant Secretary Dumlao stressed that while the agency continues to respond to areas severely affected by Typhoons Nika and Ofel, it is also enhancing its prepositioning efforts to ensure a timely response to the needs of disaster-affected families.
