As drought due to El Nino phenomenon continues to affect the country, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has mobilized the provincial and municipal links and parent leaders of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program to reach out to those needing help in their areas.

“Ang DSWD ay handa, at katunayan ay tuloy-tuloy kami sa pagtulong. Kung sino pa ang hindi nakatanggap ng tulong, maaring ipagbigay-alam sa mga parent leaders ng Pantawid Pamilya sa inyong  mga barangay at sitio para mapadalhan namin ng tulong  (The DSWD is ready and continues to extend assistance. If there are families that have not received help, please inform the Pantawid Pamilya parent leaders in your barangays and sitios so we can send the needed assistance),” DSWD Undersecretary Vilma Cabrera said.

USec. Cabrera also cited that every family should know where to ask for help, thus, she explained the process flow of providing assistance.

She said that under the Local Government Code, the first responders are the local government units (LGUs), these include the barangay, municipal/city and provincial loca governments.

Republic Act 10121 or An Act Strengthening the Philippine Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Systems, also states that it is the LGUs responsibility to immediately address the needs of their constituents in the event of disasters.

If the local government units have already exhausted their calamity fund, a request maybe submitted for augmentation to the higher level Disaster Risk Reduction Council which in turn will provide the needed assistance.

The municipal government provides the support in the event that two or more barangays are affected by disaster. The provincial government augments if two or more municipalities are affected.

The national government, through the concerned government agencies, provides augmentation support when the provincial government can no longer provide for the needs of its affected populace.

However, in anticipation of the extensive impact of the El Nino, DSWD has provided assistance to the hard hit areas in Region XII and ARMM as early as October 2015. Assistance provided includes Cash for Work and family food packs.

“We have adequate funds since we have been authorized by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to utilize our 2016 Quick Response Funds (QRF),” she added.

USec. Cabrera also said that in addition to QRF, another source of fund is the Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation (CCAM) for the DSWD support to El Nino affected LGUs in 2015.

To date, DSWD has provided a total of ₱609,285,277 intended for the CFW and rice assistance for the 279,965 El Niño-affected families in Region XII and ARMM. ###