The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), local government units, and the private sector have so far provided P45.6-million worth of food and non-food items to individuals and families affected by the oil spill from the motor tanker that sank off Oriental Mindoro on Feb. 28.

Based on the report of the DSWD’s Disaster Response Operations Monitoring and Information Center, as of March 23, P45,674,782.08 worth of assistance was provided to the affected families.

Of this amount, P38,120,250 came from the DSWD, P1,008,289 from the local government units, P675,286 from non-government organizations, and P5,870,957.08 from other partners.

The DSWD said that oil spill has affected 34,553 families or 163,498 individuals from 151 barangays in Mimaropa (27,358 households) and Western Visayas (7,195 households).

It assured that it has P671.31 million quick response fund (QRF) at its central office, and P10 million available at its field offices in Mimaropa and Western Visayas, which may support the relief needs of the displaced families due to the effects of the oil spill.

There are also P64.7 million available funds in other DSWD field offices that can be tapped through inter-field office augmentation.

Moreover, the DSWD has 96,783 family food packs available in its disaster response centers, of which, 30,636 packs are at the National Resource Operations Center (NROC) in Pasay City and 66,147 packs are at the Visayas Disaster Resource Center (VDRC) in Mandaue City.

There are also 135,750 family food packs available in DSWD field offices in Mimaropa and Western Visayas, while 403,820 family food packs are available in other DSWD field offices, which may support the relief needs of the displaced families.

The DSWD added that there is P865.35 million worth of other food and non-food items in the warehouses of the NROC, VDRC, and DSWD field offices.