MANILA – The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is set to distribute to victims of Typhoon Ompong new and used clothings and other smuggled goods donated by the Bureau of Customs (BOC).
DSWD Undersecretary for Disaster Response Management Group Hope Hervilla and DSWD Secretary Virginia Orogo accepted on Tuesday the seized goods from BOC Commissioner Isidro Lapeña and Port of Manila District Collector Erastus Sandino Austria.
“We are very thankful for the donations for the victims of Typhoon Ompong and other calamities. We have directed all our regional offices that upon arrival of the donations, they will go directly to the beneficiaries to distribute these,” Orogo said in a statement on Tuesday.
Under the directive of President Rodrigo R. Duterte, Orogo and Hervilla received the seized goods from Lapeña and Austria at the BOC warehouse at the Port Area in Manila. The clothing and shoes were seized by the BOC last September.
To assure that the items will not pose health hazards, DSWD and BOC personnel held a week-long inspection to check all the items, especially the used clothing, before turning over the items for distribution to “Ompong” survivors in the northern parts of Luzon.
The items will also be subjected to fumigation to ensure the safety of recipients.
Hervilla said the donated goods will be distributed to the victims of Ompong in Northern Luzon.
The seized contrabands were contained in two containers consisting of 130 bales of used clothes, 32 boxes of new shoes and five bales of new shirts. (Perfecto Raymundo, Jr./PNA)
