Aid campaign makes a dent in supply of food in Davao

DAVAO CITY—The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in southern Mindanao on Friday said relief efforts for “Yolanda” victims in Samar and Leyte provinces had reduced the supply of canned goods and other foodstuff in stores here.

“We still need a huge volume of supply but there’s  no more  in the local stores,” said regional DSWD director Priscilla Razon.

Razon said funds were available but the DSWD could not buy in bulk anymore because supply had become limited.

“Our needs are increasing,” she added.

Razon said the situation was not new, however, as it is always the case whenever disaster strikes.

She said DSWD regional offices were mandated to help replenish the  supply of relief stocks if these run out in times of big disasters.

So far, she said the southern Mindanao office of the DSWD had sent six trucks of food to Samar and Leyte.

Razon also said the lack of supply of canned goods and other foodstuff here was being filled by donations that people in the region had been sending in.

These donations are being kept at the military camp in Panacan for repacking and transport to areas hit by Yolanda, she said.

Razon said the regional DSWD spent P110,000 on each truck that it hired to send the relief items  to the typhoon-hit areas of the Visayas.

The military’s Eastern Mindanao Command (Eastmincom) announced that it had sent a battalion of soldiers to Leyte to support relief efforts there.

Lt. Gen. Ricardo Rainier Cruz III, Eastmincom commander, said the soldiers would  not only help in relief efforts but would also help in rebuilding homes and other structures. Reports from Judy Quiros, Allan Nawal and Eldie Aguirre, Inquirer Mindanao