The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) assured Monday night, April 12, that it has available standby funds and stockpiles amounting to over P581.43 million to augment the resources of the local government units (LGUs) most affected by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
DSWD Secretary Rolando Joselito D. Bautista said the agency has enough resources to assist the affected LGUs.
"Ang standby funds po natin kasama po yung nandito sa Central Office (Our standby funds, including that of the Central Office), we have an amount of P526.9 million intended for the NCR (National Capital Region)-plus areas and at the same time in other regions,” he said in a meeting with President Duterte on Monday night.
Of the P526.9-million standby funds, P517.9 million has been allocated as the DSWD Central Office’s standby funds. The DSWD-NCR, Central Luzon and Calabazon have P3-million standby funds each.
Bautista said a total of 99,317 family food packs (FFPs) worth P54.4 million were available for distribution.
“Itong family food packs natin tuloy tuloy po ang repacking dito. Ang guidance po sa warehouses, pag may LGUs na nanghihingi immediately we provide them with the family food packs (The repacking of family food packs continues. The guidance issued to warehouses is that once the LGUs requests for augmentation, we immediately provide them with family food packs),” he said.
He noted that there were limitations on the repackaging of FFPs, as heath protocols were strictly followed.
Bautista said before the pandemic, the agency was able to repack up to 50,000 FFPs daily.
With the quarantine restrictions and the strict implementation of health protocols, the DSWD could only repack 20,000 FFPs per day, he said.
During the government’s imposition of enhanced community quarantine (ECQ), the DSWD distributed a total of 26,363 in NCR, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, and Rizal, Bautista said. The total cost of relief assistance amounted to P14.4 million.