As heavy rains spawned by the Southwest Monsoon slowly weakened, displaced families in the Negros Island Region (NIR) are now returning to their homes.

As of 8PM of August 10, only one evacuation center  manage by the local government unit (LGU)​ in Pontevedra, Negros Occidental remains open housing 38 families or 190 persons.

Affected families in Negros Occidental and Maguindanao were given a total of P679,080 worth of assistance, of which P105,120 was provided by the DSWD as augmentation support to the ​LGUs.

Meanwhile, all  member-agencies of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) were advised to be on standby at their respective operations center to continuously monitor the weather situation since the Southwest Monsoon is expected to bring rains until the weekend, and the Low Pressure Area being monitored by PAGASA is likely to develop into a tropical cyclone on Monday, August 15.

DSWD Secretary Judy M. Taguiwalo has already tasked all DSWD-Field Offices to prepare for any possible turn of events​, and to continue assessing their available stockpile and standby funds for relief operations.

In compliance to Sec. Taguiwalo’s directives, DSWD FO-III already picked up 10,000 pieces of brown rice bar at the DSWD-National Resource Operations Center (NROC) in Pasay City​. NROC will also​ ​deliver  10,000 pieces of brown rice bar to each DSWD field office in Regions I, II and the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR)​.

“Bagamat  humina na ang mga pag-ulan, patuloy pa rin  ang pagmomonitor ng mga ahensya sa kasalukuyang masamang panahon. Ang inyong lingkod ay nagbigay na rin ng direktiba sa lahat ng Field Offices ng DSWD upang maging mas handa sa posibleng pagsama ng panahon. Ipagpatuloy po natin ang pakikipagtulungan sa local government at DSWD offices upang maagap na matugunan ang pangangailangan ng mga nasalanta ng masamang panahon  (While the rains have weakened a bit, government agencies  continue to monitor the weather condition. I have also directed all DSWD-Field Offices to be more prepared for the possible intensification of the LPA. We encourage affected locals to continue to cooperate with their local government and DSWD offices so we can immediately respond to your needs),” said Sec. Taguiwalo. ###