City government requests PPE, food packs from national government says Mayor Bayron

City Mayor Lucilo R. Bayron said that the City Government of Puerto Princesa requested personal protective equipment (PPE) from the Department of Health (DOH), and family food packs from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in an effort to provide assistance to frontliners and city residents amidst coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

During the meeting with punong barangays and city’s key officials on Monday morning, March 30, 2020 at the New City Hall, he informed that the city government has not received yet on any of these requested support from the national government.

“Sa ngayon, ay wala pa tayong natatanggap na ayuda mula sa pamahalaang nasyonal. May naibigay na tayo na assistance sa ating mga barangay, kasi tayo (city government) ay nagpupursige na merong maibigay,” he said, referring to the P1,500 financial assistance provided by the city government to the city residents, sourced from the city disaster risk reduction and management fund (CDRRMF).

Mayor Bayron said that the PPE are intended for the frontliners and medical personnel, while the family food packs are for the distribution to enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) affected families.

Last March 24, the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) through Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya said that the food packs from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) had been delivered in the local government units in Metro Manila, while the delivery to other local government units (LGUs) within Luzon is ongoing.

One (1) DSWD family food pack contains six kilos of rice, four tin cans of corned beef, four tin cans of sardines and six packs of energy drink or coffee sufficient for five members of a family good for two days.

The DSWD said that they have provided a total of P46.64-million relief assistance to the LGUs distributing more than 120,000 Family Food Packs (FFPs) nationwide.

Per DSWD-Disaster Response Operations and Monitoring Information Center (DROMIC) report, as of 6 AM of March 30, 2020, there are total of 121,803 FFPs have been distributed nationwide. Also set for distribution are P204-million worth of “other food items” and non-food items amounting to P570-million.

The DROMIC report said that 277,771 FFPs amounting to P105 million are still available for distribution.