The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) continues to provide relief assistance to families in Butig, Lanao del Sur displaced by armed conflict between the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Maute Group, a local terror group which has pledged alliance to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

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 currently taking refuge in four evacuation centers located in Butig proper and at Barangays Bayabao and Madrasah Raya Timbab, while 2,035 families or 10,175 persons are staying with their relatives and friends.

DSWD Secretary Judy Taguiwalo said that to ensure prompt delivery of aid to the affected families, the DSWD-Field Office (FO) XII has activated its operations center in Marawi City with the prepositioning of 500 bags of rice amounting to P625,000 to be given to the evacuees.

Today, 02 December 2016, DSWD-FO XII is set to provide 10 kilos of rice to each of the affected families.

Also, DSWD-FO XII staff met with local officials of Marawi City about the participation of the 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 can do as the government’s lead welfare agency is to attend to their immediate needs,” Sec. Taguiwalo said.

As of today, the DSWD has available stockpile and standby funds at the Central Office (CO), FO XII, and the National Resource Operations Center (NROC) amounting to P588,349,723.57. This includes P400,231,207.87 worth of standby funds at the CO and family food packs (FFPs) and food and non-food items (FNFIs) worth P159,941,157.54 and P28,177,358.16 at NROC and FO XII, respectively.

The DSWD DROMIC continues to coordinate with FO XII for new updates on the armed conflict and for the provision of relief assistance to the evacuees. Sec. Taguiwalo is also coordinating with FO XII for updates regarding the status of the evacuees and what assistance they can be provided with.  ###