IATF adopts DA’s recommendation to include sugar as COVID-19 relief item

MANILA, Philippines — Sugar will soon be part of the relief items being distributed by local government units (LGUs) to residents during the ongoing Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine, the government’s COVID-19 task force said Saturday.

In an online press briefing, Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) spokesperson and Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said that the task force has approved the recommendation of the Department of Agriculture (DA) to include sugar in the relief goods.

The initiative was made to support sugar farmers and the local sugar industry.

“With a view to assist and support sugar farmers and the sugar industry, the recommendation of the DA to encourage LGUs to include sugar in their relief good packages is adopted,” Nograles said during the press briefing.

Aside from this, Nograles said the National Task Force (NTF) sub-group has been reorganized into the NTF Task Group on Food Security, with the DA serving as chair.

Members of the NTF Task Group on Food Security are the  Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Department of Budget and Management (DBM), Department of Education (DepEd), Department of Science and Technology (DOST), the National Security Council (NSC) and the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG).

Luzon is at present under a period of enhanced community quarantine as COVID-19 cases in the country continue to soar.

Based on the Department of Health’s data as of Friday, the Philippines has 5,878 COVID-19 cases, with 487 recoveries and 387 fatalities. 

/MUF