Posted on by Digital Media Service

The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has activated an inter-field office human resource augmentation program in response to the recent series of typhoons that hit the country.

This measure underscores the DSWD’s commitment to the well-being of its frontline personnel, ensuring their continuous and effective disaster response,  according to Disaster Response  Management Group (DRMG) Assistant Secretary Irene Dumlao.

In an interview over Radyo Pilipinas on Monday (November 11), Asst. Secretary Dumlao said the agency started deploying personnel from its select field offices last week to help the DSWD Field Office (FO) 5—Bicol Region’s response efforts for Kristine-battered communities in the region.

“Noong nakaraang linggo nagpadala tayo ng mga staff from Region 7 , Region 1 and Region 4 and from the Central Office na nag-augment doon sa Region 5 at sila ang nanguna at humalili sa pagsasagawa ng camp coordination and camp management in the protection of internally displaced persons (IDPs) and in the conduct of psychological first aid,” Asst. Secretary Dumlao, who is also the DSWD spokesperson, said.

In disaster emergencies, the DSWD provides timely and well-coordinated humanitarian assistance to IDPs and their families inside and outside evacuation centers.

Asst. Secretary Dumlao said the inter-FO augmentation was meant to alleviate fatigue among FO-5 personnel, who have been the agency’s oversight workforce for supporting many IDPs in the aftermath of Kristine in the Bicol Region.

“Ginawa po natin ito, para makapagpahinga rin ‘yong ating mga personnel in the Bicol region who have been tirelessly assisting the various local government units (LGUs) affected by Bagyong Kristine at Leon,” the DSWD’s DRMG official said.

The DSWD implemented the strategy to aid families affected by Marce, and it may stay in effect as Tropical Storm Nika is expected to bring severe weather to Northern Luzon.

“Kung kakailanganin din po ng augmentation from other regions, which are not affected by typhoons in the past week, eh sila naman din ang lilipad para humalili in case magpatuloy itong epekto ng severe weather events na nararanasan po,” Asst. Secretary Dumlao pointed out.

DSWD’s readiness for STS ‘Nika’

In the same interview, Asst. Secretary Dumlao reported that 227,000 family food packs (FFPs) have been prepositioned in the Ilocos Region, Cagayan Valley, and the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR).

The agency can use the resources immediately to enhance local relief efforts in response to Marce and the potential impact of Severe Tropical Storm (STS) Nika in Northern Luzon.

“Ngayon po, habang nagpapatuloy ang ating koordinasyon sa mga lugar na naapektuhan ng Bagyong Marce, inihahanda na rin natin ang stockpiles natin in the same region that will be in the trajectory of Bagyong Nika,” Asst. Secretary Dumlao said.

The DSWD spokesperson said 50,000 boxes of FFPs were delivered to the agency’s warehouse in Aurora province to ensure the availability of relief items, as this province was expected to experience a significant impact from Nika.

Over 8,000 FFPs from the National Resource Operations Center (NROC) arrived at the Port of Basco in the island province of Batanes on Sunday afternoon.

With these replenishment and prepositioning efforts in place, Asst. Secretary Dumlao assured the public that the agency and its field offices are well-equipped to effectively manage the overlapping response to Marce while scaling up preparations for Nika.# (LSJ)