The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has already extended over 1 million boxes of family food packs (FFPs) to families affected by successive tropical cyclones last month, an agency official said on Monday.

“Based on our latest tally, we have already released 1,007,121 family food packs in response to Marce, Nika, Ofel and Pepito,” Disaster Response Management Group (DRMG) Assistant Secretary Irene Dumlao, who is also the agency spokesperson, said.

The relief packs have reached disaster-affected families across Regions 1 (Ilocos Region), 2 (Cagayan Valley), 3 (Central Luzon), 4-A (Calabarzon), 4-B (Mimaropa), 5 (Bicol Region), and 8 (Eastern Visayas).

Dumlao said majority of the FFPs released or 511,024 were extended to Cagayan Valley, one of the regions hardest hit by the successive cyclones that battered the country in November.

She assured that despite the significant number of FFPs released, the agency’s stockpile remains stable due to the continuous repacking of FFPs in the major production hubs as well as the prepositioning of food packs in agency and local government units-owned warehouse facilities

“We do not wish for more typhoons to come. However, just like what Secretary Rex Gatchalian always says, we are always preparing for the worst so we can roll out the best response possible,” Dumlao said.

As of Dec. 2, the agency maintains more than PHP101 million in standby funds and PHP2.1 billion worth of food and non-food items (FNFIs) nationwide.

Livelihood for Bicol farmers, fisherfolk

Dumlao said the DSWD Field Office 5–Bicol Region has distributed PHP4.9 million in livelihood assistance to 245 Bicolano farmers and fisherfolk hit by the tropical cyclones.

She said the cash aid aimed to assist those affected in their recovery efforts and to help strengthen local economic activities in the region, particularly in the agriculture and fisheries sectors.

“The DSWD assures our kababayans (fellow Filipinos) that all forms of assistance, within the mandate of the department, shall be provided to them until they attain full recovery,” Dumlao said.

Each beneficiary from the coastal town of Jose Panganiban, Camarines Norte received PHP20,000 Livelihood Settlement Grant (LSG) under the agency’s Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP).

“The provision of the LSG through the SLP is one of the DSWD’s ongoing commitments to empower vulnerable communities and strengthen economic resilience across typhoon-hit areas,” she said.

The SLP is one of the core programs of the DSWD that provides livelihood assistance to mitigate the impacts of natural or human-induced disasters. (PNA)