DSWD 6 ready to aid towns affected by El Niño

ILOILO CITY -- The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Field Office 6 (Western Visayas) is ready in case Iloilo towns of Bingawan and Lambunao, both under a state of calamity due to El Niño, ask for relief augmentation.

Renante Lasay, program development officer of DSWD 6, said the department awaits the list of farmers and affected families from the two towns.

The local government unit (LGU) is the “front liner” in the relief operations while the DSWD’s role is to augment in cases that aid in the LGU level will not suffice, he explained.

“We closely coordinate with the municipal risk reduction officers of Bingawan and Lambunao right after they were declared under a state of calamity,” he said in a press briefing on Wednesday.

Bingawan town was placed under a state of calamity on March 25 while Lambunao was declared under same condition on April 8.

To ask for relief augmentation, the LGU has to write a letter to the DSWD stating what it had already given to the El Niño-affected families and what are its augmentation request.

On Wednesday, the Iloilo Provincial Risk Reduction and Management Office headed by Jerry Bionat reported that El Niño had affected 130, 000 individuals in the province.

Lasay said the DSWD 6 has 11, 365 stand-by family food packs and already coordinated with the national office for additional food packs.

DSWD’s family food packs include six kilograms of rice and six canned goods.

Lasay said one pack is good for a two-day consumption of the family with an average of five members.

He said the DSWD can only provide bottled water to the villages which reported lack of potable water source. (PNA)

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