BACOLOD CITY — Secretary Rex Gatchalian of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) on Tuesday assured families affected by the restive Mount Kanlaon that they will receive timely assistance from the government until the situation stabilizes.
Gatchalian gave this assurance in line with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s directive to ensure that food, access to clean water and other needed assistance would be extended to the affected population.
“The DSWD, upon the instruction of President Marcos Jr., is ready to supply assistance like food, water and other needs for evacuees as long as they need it,” Gatchalian told reporters during his visit in an evacuation center in Bago City, Negros Occidental.
Gatchalian flew to Negros Island on Tuesday to personally monitor the agency’s disaster response and check on the condition of the evacuees.
During his visit to an evacuation center in Bago City on Tuesday, the DSWD chief personally oversaw the distribution of family food packs (FFPs), hygiene kits and water filtration units to the evacuees.
He also convened a coordination meeting with key provincial and city officials, including Bago City acting Mayor Ramon Torres, Negros Occidental Vice Gov. Jeffrey Ferrer, 4th District Board Members Andrew Martin Torres and Joeben Alonso, 5th District Rep. Dino Yulo and representatives from various agencies to strategically address the critical situation in Bago City and Negros.
“We, on behalf of the DSWD, are working with your local government units (LGUs) to ensure that there is enough food, water and shelter in the evacuation center. Let’s make sure that your needs inside the evacuation center will be met,” Gatchalian said.
He reiterated that the department is well-equipped to meet the relief requirements of affected families, citing the prepositioning of 80,000 FFPs on Negros Island ahead of the eruption.
Gatchalian also met with Negros Occidental Vice Gov. Jeffrey Ferrer, Bago City Vice Mayor Ramon Torres and provincial council members to discuss the ongoing relief operations and coordinate steps for the agency’s augmentation support to LGUs.
The DSWD’s Visayas Disaster Resource Center in Mandaue City, Cebu, is now producing 5,000 FFPs bound for Negros Oriental.
DSWD Field Office 7-Central Visayas Regional Director Shalaine Sun-Lucero reported that on the side of Canlaon City in Negros Oriental, 50 families are currently staying in two evacuation centers after the eruption of Kanlaon Volcano.
This will serve as additional stockpile to the prepositioned FFPs in Guihulngan warehouse in Negros Oriental which is managed by FO-7.
Bacolod ready to help
Meanwhile, Bacolod Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez on Monday said the city is willing to provide transportation support and all necessary assistance needed by the local governments in southern Negros Occidental.
They will assess the situation there before they can determine what assistance is needed. The city, the mayor added, is also willing to accommodate donations from private individuals and groups which may be coursed through the City Mayor’s Office or the Bacolod City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office.
“We have made it a point to have an inventory of quick response supplies because we have been experiencing a lot of calamities lately. We have seen stronger typhoons and rains, as well as volcanic eruptions these past few years. So we have to be more resilient,” Benitez said.
He pointed out that “Bacolod City has been spared from the eruption of Mount Kanlaon because the wind direction is going in the opposite direction. They have not received reports that Bacolod will be affected.”
However, the two regional evacuation centers have been prepared if the LGUs concerned need any assistance, Benitez added.
The Office of Civil Defense (OCD) reported that as of 8 a.m. on Wednesday, the eruption of Kanlaon Volcano on Monday affected 10,993 families and 37,699 individuals.
A total of 29 evacuation centers were also opened to accommodate 3,723 displaced families and 12,378 persons, both in Regions 6 (Western Visayas) and 7 (Central Visayas).
The data also showed that there are 585 displaced families and 2,150 staying outside the evacuation centers.
The OCD also said that there are 28 local government units in both regions affected by ashfall from the eruption and 13 areas have suspended classes, and three that also suspended work.
DSWD gives over P4M in aid to affected LGUs
The DSWD has so far granted more than P4.39 million in relief assistance to LGUs affected by Mt. Kanlaon’s eruption on Negros Island.
“With the ongoing disaster operations that started right after the eruption of Mt. Kanlaon on Monday, our Field Offices 6 and 7 continue to send family food packs to Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental, on top of those already prepositioned, to help our LGUs respond to the needs of their constituents,” said Assistant Secretary Irene Dumlao on Wednesday.
The majority of the P4.3 million in assistance given to Negros Occidental’s LGUs went to the cities of Bago and La Carlota, as well as the municipalities of La Castellana, Murcia and Pontevedra.
“We continue to coordinate with the concerned LGUs to ensure that timely assistance will be provided to the affected families, as committed by Secretary Gatchalian during his meeting with local officials of the two provinces of Negros Island last Tuesday,” Dumlao said.
The DSWD Field Office 6 provided family food packs on Tuesday to 246 families in Pontevedra, Negros Occidental, comprising 723 people.
The DSWD Field Office 7 City Action Team helped distribute food packs to evacuees at the Macario Española Memorial School in Canlaon City, Negros Oriental, on Tuesday night.
Meanwhile, social workers from the DSWD’s Field Offices 6 and 7 continue to help local governments maintain evacuation centers, including evacuee registration and profiling through the Family Assistance Card in Emergencies and Disasters (Faced).
The Faced aims to establish a profiling strategy for collecting demographic and socioeconomic data from disaster-vulnerable and disaster-affected families, such as their name, age, gender, education and income, as well as post-disaster data and information about shelter damage and humanitarian assistance received.
