The Department of Social Welfare and Development here and the 503 rd Infantry (Justice and Peace) Brigade, 5th Infantry Division of the Philippine Army formalized their partnership for better disaster response after the two institutions signed a Memorandum of Cooperation on 3 June 2019.

Represented by Director Janet P. Armas and Brigadier General Henry M. Doyaoen, DSWD-CAR and the Philippine Army agreed to strengthen the institutions’ partnership specifically on ensuring the immediate provision of relief items to communities during disaster.

“We recognize that the Philippine Army plays a major role in reducing and managing disaster risks in our communities. We are very much elated that through this partnership, we will be able to occupy and temporarily use a portion of their existing warehouse for prepositioning our relief goods”, Director Armas said.

The Philippine Army Warehouse is located within the premises of the Headquarters of the 503 rd Infantry Brigade, 5 th Infantry Division of the Philippine Army at Brgy. Calanan, Tabuk City, Kalinga.

“For the past years, the region experienced destructive typhoons, floods, and landslides. And Kalinga Province has been recorded to have one of the highest number of affected families. With its distance from the Field Office, the warehouse in Kalinga will definitely help us in Providing the necessary relief assistance to the province and other nearby areas,” Dir. Armas added.

DSWD-CAR Warehouse is currently situated in La Trinidad, Benguet. Earlier this year, the DSWD has been directed to suspend fund transfer and prepositioning of relief items to local government units.

“[This Partnership] is part of the convergence of the whole of the Government’s approach to solve the problems of our country… This also includes our social responsibility for our communities especially for our future generation. We also have other programs that we want to propose… We expect that [through the partnership] we will be able to fast track the delivery of the services of the Government agencies…”, BGen. Henry Doyaoen said.

“In the end, we want to have peaceful communities and that these development [interventions] are delivered properly. We want the people to learn that the programs and services f the Government are not just for the present generation but for the future generations as well. It will solve insurgency that hinders development [in our communities]”, BGen Doyaen added.

“We would like to express our gratitude to the 5th Infantry Division of the Philippine Army for this partnership. We hope that this is just the start. We are looking forward to more partnership not just with other Government Institutions but with other stakeholders for a better and more efficient service delivey for the Cordillera people”, Dir. Armas said.#DSWD-CAR, SOCIAL MARKETING UNIT, Nerizza Faye G. Villanueva