DSWD to send more aid to displaced families in Marawi City

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has assured that more assistance are underway for displaced families in Marawi City in Lanao del Sur province.

"DSWD-Central Office, through the DReAMB (DSWD-Disaster Response Assistance and Management Bureau), has prepared requests for sub-allotment and transfer of funds to Field Office Region 12 (Soccsksargen), amounting to PHP8.2 million, and Field Office Region 7 (Central Visayas), amounting to PHP19.08 million, intended for the purchase of 40,000 food packs and for handling and hauling of the goods," Social Welfare Secretary Judy Taguiwalo said in a news release issued Friday.

Taguiwalo said her department is set to send 10,000 food packs to Iligan City on Friday, to come from the Visayas Disaster Response Center, as well as staff from their disaster response bureau to provide technical assistance to disaster response operations in the city.

Meanwhile, DSWD-Soccsksargen has been assisting in the delivery of 10,000 family food packs and food and non-food items (FNFIs) from the department’s National Resource Operations Center (NROC) in Pasay City to the newly opened operations center in Malabang, Lanao del Sur.

Of the 10,000 food packs, 1,700 have already reached the Malabang operations center, along with 10,000 plastic mats, 2,934 blankets, and 2,704 dignity kits.

DSWD-Northern Mindanao has provided blankets, towels, tumblers, slippers, and sleeping mats to 136 evacuees staying at the Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology (MSU-IIT) in Tibanga, Iligan City.

It has also provided 260 family food packs (two packs per family) to 53 displaced families staying at the Buruun School of Fisheries; 37 families at the Pagawayan Barangay Hall in Bacolod City; and 40 families at the Baloi Barangay Hall.

Staff from the field office also assisted Bacolod’s city government in distributing relief goods from the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines to displaced families staying in the city.

Iligan City Representative Freddie Siao likewise extended aid in the form of six sacks of rice, four boxes of noodles, and four boxes of sardines.

According to the 9 a.m. report of the DReAMB, the local governments of Lanao del Norte and Lanao del Sur had to set up additional evacuation centers following a rise in the number of evacuees.

In Lanao del Norte, two more evacuation centers were opened — the Gomampong Ali’s Residents in Baloi and the Gomampong Gymnasium, which currently houses 37 families or 185 persons.

On the other hand, five more evacuation centers in Saguiaran, Lanao del Sur were set up, including the People’s Plaza, which currently houses 89 families or 445 persons; Old Madrasa with eight families or 40 persons; and Old Masjid, Bureau of Fire Protection Office; and the Department of Education Kinder Room, which houses five families or 25 persons each.

Some 112 families or 560 persons are staying in evacuation centers in Saguiran after they were displaced by the ongoing armed conflict in Marawi City between government forces and members of the Maute Group. (DSWD-PR)