By Brian Campued
President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on Thursday visited residents of San Mateo, Rizal, who were displaced due to massive flooding caused by relentless monsoon rains and recent tropical cyclones.
At the Maly Elementary School, which serves as an evacuation center, Marcos led the distribution of relief goods, child-friendly spaces kits, food packs, hygiene kits, women-friendly spaces kits, sleeping kits, family water filtration kits, and ready-to-eat meals to 546 families or about 2,102 individuals.
A total of 3,899 families or 14,390 individuals are affected by the effects of of the southwest monsoon in San Mateo, Rizal.
On Wednesday, the town’s municipal council placed San Mateo under state of calamity through its Sangguniang Bayan Resolution No. 118-S-2025.
The President was accompanied by Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Sec. Rex Gatchalian, Department of Health (DOH) Sec. Teodoro Herbosa, Department of Agriculture Sec. Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr., Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Sec. Manuel Bonoan, and Rizal Gov. Nina Ynares.
During the visit at Barangay Santa Ana, Gatchalian also showed the DSWD’s deployed mobile kitchen that will help provide hot meals to the evacuees and other internally displaced individuals in San Mateo.
As of 4:00 a.m., the DSWD has so far distributed 337,204 family food packs (FFPs) to Filipinos affected by the onslaught of Severe Tropical Storm Crising, Tropical Storm Dante, Typhoon Emong, as well as the southwest monsoon (habagat).
These FFPs were distributed in:
- National Capital Region – 62,968
- Ilocos Region – 23,254
- Cagayan Valley – 1,211
- Central Luzon – 129,423
- CALABARZON – 9,429
- MIMAROPA – 10,272
- Bicol Region – 16,366
- Western Visayas – 26,402
- Negros Island Region – 30,852
- Central Visayas – 11,910
- Eastern Visayas – 2,691
- Zamboanga Peninsula – 3,597
- Northern Mindanao – 712
- Davao Region – 219
- SOCCSKSARGEN – 20
- Cordillera Administrative Region – 7,878
Following his visit in Rizal, the President then held a situation briefing with concerned government officials in the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) headquarters in Quezon City to assess the situation of the country amid the inclement weather.
Marcos arrived in Manila on Wednesday night following his three-day official visit in the United States. (with reports from Clay Pardilla, Bernard Ferrer, and Kenneth Paciente / PTV News)
-jpv
