Social welfare dept activates op cen in Marawi for families affected by military-Maute Group clash

From the Philippine News Agency (Dec 2): Social welfare dept activates op cen in Marawi for families affected by military-Maute Group clash

The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) said Friday it continues to provide relief assistance to families in Butig, Lanao del Sur who have been displaced by armed conflict between the military and a local terror group.

According to the latest report by the DSWD Disaster Response Operations Monitoring and Information Center (DROMIC), a total of 2,894 families or 14,470 persons have been displaced in eight barangays in Butig since the clash between government troops and the Maute Group started on November 26.

Of this number, 627 families or 3,135 individuals are taking refuge in four evacuation centers in Butig proper and in Barangays Bayabao and Madrasah Raya Timbab, while 2,035 families or 10,175 persons are staying with relatives and friends.

Social Welfare Secretary Judy Taguiwalo said that to ensure prompt delivery of aid to the affected families, her department’s field office in the Soccsksargen region has activated its operations center in Marawi City with the prepositioning of 500 bags of rice worth PHP625,000. Each family will be given 10 kg. of rice.

The field office has also met with local officials of Marawi City on the participation of villagers in the repacking of relief goods.

“It is important to ensure that families caught in the crossfire are still able to meet their basic needs, especially for food. They were forced to abandon their regular sources of livelihood, and they now face a situation full of uncertainty. The least that the DSWD could do as the government's lead welfare agency is to attend to their immediate needs,” Taguiwalo said.

As of Friday, the DSWD has an available stockpile and standby funds at the central office, the Soccsksargen field office, and the National Resource Operations Center (NROC) amounting to PHP588.34 million, including PHP400.23 million in standby funds at the central office and family food packs and food and non-food items worth PHP159.94 million and PHP28.17 million at the NROC and the Soccsksargen field office, respectively.

The DSWD DROMIC said it continues to coordinate with the Soccsksargen field office for the latest developments on the armed conflict and for the provision of relief assistance to the evacuees.

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