Batangas, City—The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) MiMaRoPa have opened a Relief Distribution Hub yesterday in this city as a pick-up and delivery point for TY Ruby-affected municipalities in the province of Oriental and Occidental Mindoro and Romblon.

Over 1,600 relief packs are initially housed in the said warehouse in Balagtas. Similarly, 1,690 food packs were sent to the Philippine Naval base in Cavite for distribution to the island of Romblon. A total of more than 18,000 pre-positioned goods are ready to be shipped for augmentation to all local government units across the region.

“We are closely monitoring all [TY Ruby] affected areas of our region. We make sure that all needed augmentation, specially, relief goods, are in place and distributed at the soonest time possible,” said Regional Director Wilma Naviamos.

The Department is closely linked with other national agencies for a convergent response to all affected areas. The Office of Civil Defense (OCD) of the region will provide manpower to help in the distribution of goods as soon as the “no sail policy” is lifted.

Repacking of additional food packs in the DSWD MiMaRoPa warehouse in Malate is on-going as of this writing.

Over 15,000 affected families are sheltered inside evacuation centers across MiMaRoPa with no recorded casualties to date.###