The Philippines has received 200 tons of rice from the Vietnamese government for the communities hard-hit by Typhoon Odette late last year, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said.
According to the DFA, Philippine Ambassador to Vietnam Meynardo Montealegre formally received the donation at a handover ceremony at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Hanoi on April 1.
During the ceremony, Montealegre thanked the government of Vietnam for its generous donations to the victims of the devastating typhoon.
"Ambassador Montealegre extended his sincere appreciation to the government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam for the donation and Vietnamese businessman Mr. Jonathan Hanh Nguyen for his support in facilitating the transport of said donations to the port of Cebu," the DFA said.
The Vietnamese side was spearheaded by Ms. Nguyen Min Hang, Assistant to the Foreign Minister of Vietnam and Director General of the Department of Economic Affairs.
In their respective remarks, both the Philippines and Vietnam highlighted the close friendly relations and strategic partnership between the two countries that manifest closely in their assistance in times of need.
Early this year, United Nations (UN) Resident Coordinator in the Philippines Gustavo Gonzalez called for urgent financial resources to help victims of Typhoon Odette, saying the destruction the typhoon caused in the country was "badly underestimated."
"Time to put capacities, knowledge, and resources together and scale up support to people affected by #typhoonrai," he tweeted on January 21.
"Local economies have been literally flattened. Financial resources are urgently needed," he added.
A week after the typhoon-ravaged parts of Visayas and Mindanao in December last year, the UN launched a campaign to raise $107.2 million in aid for victims. However, Gonzalez said in January that the target would be revised after at least 60 field assessments showed that the destruction was far worse than initially thought.
More than 1.5 million houses were damaged or destroyed in the storm, leaving 406 people dead and hundreds of thousands homeless.