The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has dispatched approximately 2.3 million family food packs to assist households affected by severe flooding and consecutive tropical storms fueled by the southwest monsoon.
Social Welfare Secretary Rex Gatchalian highlighted the scale of the relief drive, noting it stands among the largest disaster response operations in the agency’s history.
“That is one of the largest releases of family food packs in our history because we are talking about almost four weeks and 2.3 million food packs,” Gatchalian stated.
To support ongoing relief efforts for Tropical Cyclones Luis, Maymay, and Neneng, alongside flooding in Metro Manila and Central Luzon, the agency maintains nationwide prepositioned stockpiles containing over 3.5 million food packs, 301,570 ready-to-eat meals, and nearly 283,000 non-food items.
DSWD regional branches continue to coordinate with local government units (LGUs) to monitor conditions and meet requests for supplemental aid.
“The ones distributing to the beneficiaries or victims are the local government units because, remember, they are the first responders. We only provide augmentation,” Gatchalian explained.
“As far as we know, we have complied with all the requests we have received from local government units. But some local government units are already asking for a second or third round, and rightfully so, because this disaster has gone on for quite some time,” he added.
The DSWD reaffirmed that its logistics hubs and repacking facilities remain operational around the clock to sustain relief distribution and replenish local inventories as communities recover.