Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR)- The Department of Social Welfare and Development Field Office Cordillera Administrative Region (DSWD FO CAR) assures the public that there are enough resources that can be utilized to respond to the possible impact of Severe Tropical Storm (STS) Kristine in the region.
DSWD FO CAR Regional Director Maria A. Catbagan-Aplaten, PhD said that the Field Office is currently maintaining 67,000 family food packs worth more than PhP 51.7 million and various non-food items worth PhP 53.8 million. Non-food items (NFIs) include 5,818 family kits, 2,825 sleeping kits, 3,324 hygiene kits, 4,538 kitchen kits, and 8,856 other NFIs. The Field Office is also maintaining a stand-by fund of PhP 2.9 million.
“The DSWD FO CAR has enough resources that we can use to augment to the needs of our communities. Aside from those that are already in the our warehouses, we will also receive 5,000 ready to eat packs from DSWD National Resource Operations Center”, Director Aplaten shared.
In preparation for the disaster season, the DSWD FO CAR has earlier prepositioned goods in the different provinces. These items can be requested for augmentation to address the needs of the communities.
“As the lead agency for the Food and Non-Food Item (FNI) Cluster under the Response and Recovery, the DSWD is mandated to lead the disaster response operations, especially in instances that the local government units can no longer provide the first line of response or if they do not have sufficient resources to respond to the needs of the affected communities. This means that the DSWD and the LGU should work together in disaster response operations”, Director Aplaten added.
DSWD Memorandum Circular 24, series of 2024 states that the DSWD is mandated to augment to the LGUs when a request from the LGU has been received, given that the LGU has limited capacity to assist the disaster-affected population or when the resources of the LGU has already been used and exhausted. In case of request, the DSWD is expected to review, validate and assess the request from the LGU through reports and assessment from DSWD field personnel and the LGU through the Local Social Welfare and Development Offices and the Barangay Officials.
“ The DSWD is ready to provide assistance to the different communities in our Region. Our local government units (LGUs) can submit their requests with the necessary reports through our Social Welfare and Development (SWAD) Offices in the provinces and these will be forwarded to the Regional Office. For the affected families, you may directly report to your barangay officials for proper documentation as this will also be our basis in providing augmentation to your LGUs. We continue to work closely with the LGUs to ensure that we are able to provide efficient assistance to all those in need”, Director Aplaten said. #DSWD FIELD OFFICE CAR, SOCIAL MARKETING UNIT, NERIZZA FAYE G. VILLANUEVA-TRINIDAD
