Heavy rains brought by the southwest monsoon and tropical cyclones “Crising,” “Dante,” and “Emong” have significantly impacted the livelihoods of jeepney drivers, who were unable to ply their routes due to flooded roads and a decrease in ridership.
In response, Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Secretary Rex Gatchalian on Friday directed their National Capital Region (NCR) field office to extend food assistance in the form of family food packs (FFPs) to members of the Pasang Masda transport group in Tayuman, Manila.
“We know that our jeepney drivers did not travel for almost a week because the streets were flooded and many of them had their houses flooded so…a group of them contacted the Pasang Masda, led by Ka Obet, if there could be a special distribution of family food packs to our jeepney drivers,” Gatchalian told reporters in Filipino on the sideline of the relief distribution in Tayuman.
The Social Welfare Secretary said the agency has allocated a total of 3,500 boxes of FFPs for the jeepney drivers to ensure they have food on their tables, as President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. instructed concerned government agencies.
Additionally, the DSWD will also assist 1,500 Pasang Masda members in Bulacan.
Gatchalian assured the public that the production of FFPs in the agency’s main production hubs at the National Resource Operations Center (NROC) in Pasay City and at the Visayas Disaster Resource Center (VDRC) in Mandaue City, Cebu, is ongoing to ensure sufficient stocks of food packs.
“Before Crising came, three million family food packs were in our warehouses, and we did not stop there while there was something stored; production continued,” Gatchalian said.
