MANILA, Dec. 9 (PNA) — The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) said on Tuesday that some 5,000 food packs were released by the National Resource Operations Center (NROC) in Pasay City for the victims of tropical storm “Ruby” (international name: Hagupit) in Region IV-A or Calabarzon.
The food packs were transported by two wing vans and one flatbed truck from the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) and Office of Civil Defense (OCD) to the province of Cavite for distribution to affected families in Bacoor City, Cavite City, Kawit, Noveleta, Rosario, and Ternate.
For Region IV-B or MIMAROPA (the twin Mindoro provinces, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan), the NROC also released around 10,800 food packs on the same day.
Two wing vans provided by the World Food Programme (WFP) and four trucks from LTFRB transported the relief items for Oriental Mindoro, Occidental Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon, and Culion, Palawan.
On top of these, 6,800 food packs are already prepared for transportation by 10 trucks to the MIMAROPA relief hub in Batangas which serves as distribution hub for the said region.
Another 1,789 food packs for Quezon province are scheduled to be delivered anytime Tuesday for the towns of Dolores, San Antonio and Candelaria.
DSWD Secretary Corazon J. Soliman attributes her agency’s capability to deliver enough relief goods to the typhoon-affected areas on time to the help of volunteers who continue to troop to the NROC in Pasay to help repack goods.
From 7 a.m. to Tuesday noon, at least 417 volunteers have arrived to help in repacking relief goods at the NROC.
Since the DSWD made the call for volunteers on Sunday, a total of 1,766 volunteers have responded and rendered their invaluable services.
“Thank you to all the volunteers in NROC and in the Cebu Hub at the Cebu International Convention Center and Sacred Heart Gymnasium. As always, you never failed us,” Soliman said.
Continuous repacking of goods is being done in the said relief hubs to meet the needs for augmentation of food packs for the typhoon victims in various regions. (PNA)