Mindanao will soon have its own disaster resource center, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. said Thursday as he announced the ongoing construction of a new facility in Butuan City.

During his inspection of the Visayas Disaster Resource Center (VDRC) in Mandaue City, Cebu, Marcos said the Mindanao Disaster Resource Center in Butuan City would likely operate by the end of 2027.

“So, in the meantime, dito muna natin kukunin. Kaya napakalaking bagay (we’ll source it from here first. That’s why this is such a big deal),” he said.

“Ganoon ang sistema na ginawa natin. Kaya maganda, maganda na ang production para sa food pack para alalayan naman natin. Ito ang unang panahon na ang National Government ay nagbibigay ng food pack (That’s the system we have set up. So, it’s good – the production of food packs is going well, so we can provide support. This is the first time that the National Government is distributing food packs),” he added.

Marcos, joined by Social Welfare Secretary Rex Gatchalian, inspected the VDRC’s new mechanized production system, a state-of-the-art upgrade of automatic vacuum packaging lines to its disaster response infrastructure.

Funded through the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (NDRRM) Fund and completed in July 2025, the PHP117 million project aims to enhance disaster preparedness and improve response mechanisms throughout the Visayas region.

The VDRC serves as the primary production, storage, and logistics hub for disaster response operations in the Visayas and Mindanao, playing a key role in the timely preparation and distribution of relief goods to communities affected by natural disasters and other crises.

From 2016 to January 2026, the VDRC produced 8,977,512 family food packs (FFPs).

Marcos noted that the center’s daily production has significantly increased to 300,000 FFPs from an average of 5,000 to 8,000 FFPs.

“So, patuloy lang ang production nito hanggang umabot ng mga five million. Lampas ng five million. Pero malaking tulong itong pagkagawa. Ito, pinagawa pa natin, pina-design natin itong mga machine na ito (So, production will just continue until it reaches about five million or more than five million. But producing this is a big help. We had this made, we had these machines designed specifically for this),” he said.

He said that FFPs nearing their expiration would be distributed to qualified beneficiaries to avoid the wastage of government resources. (PNA)