The Department of Social Welfare and Development has vowed continued assistance to the families affected by the massive flooding in Negros Occidental. 

The DSWD said it has enough resources to provide augmentation support to the local government units (LGUs) to help them respond to the needs of their constituents affected by the massive flooding in Negros Occidental

"DSWD assures the public that it has sufficient relief supplies to aid the affected population,” it said. 

The Department said it maintains stockpiles and standby funds amounting to more than P727 million.  "Of which, more than P121 million standby funds are available in the Central Office and DSWD field offices,” it said. 

The DSWD said around 160,256 family food packs (FFPs)  are prepositioned in strategic areas around the country.

Citing the DSWD Disaster Response and Management Bureau report, as of January 10,  around 7,640 families or 37,830 persons from 48 barangays in the province have been affected by the January 8  flooding incident in the low-lying areas of Silay City, Victorias City, Sagay City, Cadiz City, and E.B. Magalona.

"To date, the Department, through its Field Office VI, has provided initial 390 family food packs  to the city government of Silay for the affected locals,” it said.

On December 31, 2020, around 54 barangays in Negros Occidental were affected by massive flooding brought about by a low pressure area (LPA) and the tail-end of a frontal system.

The DSWD noted that so far, the DSWD, concerned LGUs, and private partners have extended more than P1.5 million worth of assistance to the affected families, as of January 6. 

 "The DSWD-Field Office VI is consistently coordinating with all affected LGUs, which are the first responders during disasters and calamities, for the needed resource augmentation,” it said. 

The provision of resource augmentation is part of the mandate of DSWD as chair of the Food and Non-Food Items Cluster of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, it said.