Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Secretary Rolando Joselito Bautista took time to personally visit the families displaced by Taal Volcano’s unrest in Batangas to check on their condition.
Along with DSWD Field Office IV-A Regional Director Marcelo Nicomedes Castillo, the DSWD chief visited the Ticub Evacuation Center in Laurel, Batangas on July 16.
The DSWD cited that Bautista “continues to monitor the ongoing disaster response efforts” of DSWD-Field Office Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon).
“Based on the latest report, the town of Laurel has the most number of displaced families numbering to 122 or 412 individuals, who are taking temporary shelter in three designated evacuation centers in the municipality,” it said.
On July 2, the DSWD chief visited some evacuation centers in Laurel and Agoncillo, Batangas, and assured support to the affected families.
Related story: https://mb.com.ph/2021/07/03/dswd-chief-visits-evacuation-centers-in-batangas/
During his visit to Batangas, Bautista went to Barangay Malainin in Ibaan to inspect the site for the new DSWD regional warehouse.
The provincial government of Batangas and the DSWD inked on July 12 a memorandum of agreement (MOA) for the construction of the warehouse.
Under the agreement, the provincial government of Batangas will be allocating 5,356 square-meter land for the establishment of the regional warehouse within five years.
The warehouse will serve as a storage facility of relief goods and other stockpiles of DSWD for disaster victims in the province and nearby areas, the DSWD said.
“The Department continues to coordinate with concerned LGUs in the province to monitor the situation and to assess how the residents affected by the Taal Volcanic activity can be better assisted,” it said.
The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) on July 23, decided to lower Taal Volcano’s status to Alert Level 2 after it showed “a cessation of eruptive activity.”
Taal Volcano had a phreatomagmatic eruption on July 1 prompting Phivolcs to place it under Alert Level 3.