The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has provided family food packs (FFPs) to the Department of Education (DepEd) to be given to community volunteers of the Emergency Brigada Eskwela who will help repair and rehabilitate schools damaged by Tropical Depression Usman that hit the Bicol Region last month.

“Emergency Brigada Eskwela” is an initiative of DepEd to repair and rehabilitate schools damaged by recent calamities. The initiative encourages the participation of the members of the community, including the parents of students and other stakeholders, to make educational facilities conducive to learning again.

DSWD-Field Office (FO) V has allotted a total of 5,777 FFPs amounting to P2,079,720 to DepEd Region V to help it facilitate the clean-up and minor repair of classrooms and other school facilities in Camarines Sur and Albay to ensure the continuity of learning of the displaced students. The provision of the food packs is part of the food-for-work program of the DSWD.

DepEd V Regional Director Gilbert Sadsad expressed his gratitude to the DSWD for its continuous support to the Emergency Brigada Eskwela. As a sign of gratitude, the office has awarded a Plaque of Appreciation to DSWD FO V Regional Director Arnel Garcia.

DSWD-FO V has been partnering with DepEd Bicol since 2017 through a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) for the implementation of  food-for-work to survivors of calamities volunteering for the Emergency Brigada Eskwela.

Ongoing relief ops

Meanwhile, as of today, some 650 ‘Usman’-affected families or 2,748 individuals are still staying in 26 evacuation centers (ECs) in Regions V, VIII, CALABARZON, and MIMAROPA. The bulk of the evacuees are in the Bicol Region with 473 families or 2,040 persons in 20 open ECs.

The DSWD and its concerned field offices, specifically FOs V and VIII, remain in close coordination with the local government units to assist the evacuees until they have returned home.

DSWD-FO VIII is also planning for a second wave of relief distribution for the residents of the hard-hit town of Lope de Vega, Eastern Samar.

To date, the Department has provided a total of P36,253,971.69 worth of assistance to the affected families in the four regions. ###