DSWD Secretary Rex Gatchalian and President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. jointly inspected and inaugurated the new Mechanized Production System (MPS) installed at the Visayas Disaster Resource Center in Barangay Tingub, Mandaue City, Cebu on Thursday (February 26).
The family food pack (FFP) mechanized production system is in line with the DSWD’s strengthened disaster response initiatives to ensure sustained food and non-food assistance in times of disasters as directed by the President.
The new facility features five automatic vacuum packaging lines, with each line capable of producing 4,000 family food packs (FFPs) per 8-hour shift. With all lines operational the VDRC can now produce an additional 20,000 FFPs per 8-hour cycle, raising the center’s total output from 10,000 to 30,000 FFPs and enabling faster delivery of relief goods to affected communities.
Among the DSWD officials who joined the activity were Undersecretary Diana Rose Cajipe of the Disaster Response Management Group (DRMG); Asst. Secretary Irene Dumlao of DRMG; Asst. Secretary Leo Quintilla of the Resource and Logistics Management and Concurrent Officer-In-Charge, NRLMB; and Field Office (FO) 7 – Central Luzon Asst. Regional Director for Administration (ARDA) Tonyson Luther Lee.
Also present were Department of Tourism (DOT) Secretary Ma. Christina Frasco, Cebu 5th District Rep. Duke Frasco, National Food Authority (NFA) Regional Manager Ovelito Baritua, and NFA Asst. Branch Manager Annie Dela Cerna were also present. (KI)
