Thousands of food packs were already prepared for communities affected by granular lockdowns amid the coronavirus pandemic, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) said Tuesday, Sept. 21.
In an interview with Unang Balita, DSWD Assistant Secretary Glenda Relova said affected families will receive the food packs on the second week of the implementation of the granular lockdown.
She said 1,000 food packs have already been pre-positioned each for Caloocan, La Piñas, Parañaque, Pateros, Mandaluyong, Manila, Marikina, Taguig, and Valenzuela.
"Later in this week, ipe-preposition na rin natin sa ibang cities at sa isang municipality ng NCR (National Capital Region) yung atin pong mga food packs (Later this week, we will also preposition our food packs in other cities and in a municipality of NCR)," Relova said.
She added each families affected will receive three food packs in one week. "Ang isang food pack po natin ay aabot ng tatlong araw para sa family of five. (One of our food packs will take three days for a family of five) We'll be giving three food packs for seven days," Relova said.
"Food packs po ang ibibigay natin kasi hard lockdown po tayo dito sa area nito, para di natin ma-defy yung purpose na wala pong masyadong tao para bumili (We will provide food packs because we have a hard lockdown here in this area, so that we will not defy the purpose that there are not too many people to go outside," she said.
Relova noted the first week of granular lockdown is covered by the local government unit.
"In the event na hindi pa rin bumababa ang surge at kinakailangan pa rin ng ayuda, o ma-extend ang granular lockdown, patuloy pa rin nag mago-augment ang DSWD (In the event that the surge still does not decrease and assistance is still needed, or the granular lockdown is extended, DSWD will continue to augment," she said.
Should the implementation of the new alert level system and granular lockdown in Metro Manila will be extended, Relova assured the department has allotted around P1.3 billion worth of food packs and non-food items.
"Nagprepara na rin kami ng paghingi ng supplemental budget sa DBM (Department of Budget and Management) para kung sakaling maging nationwide ang implementation nito (We have also prepared to request a supplementary budget from the DBM in case its implementation becomes nationwide)," she added.
The Metro Manila Development Authority on Monday, Sept. 20 said at least 3,000 families are under granular lockdowns in Metro Manila.
The Philippines on Monday recorded 18,937 additional coronavirus disease cases, bringing the country's tally to 2,385,616.
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