Typhoon Reming

MANILA, Philippines--About 500,000 victims of Supertyphoon "Reming" in the Bicol region will have food on their table for the next six months.

The Department of Social Welfare and Development said on Sunday that the United Nations World Food Programme had allocated $2.75 million for the provision of rice, mongo beans and cooking oil for half a million residents of Albay and Camarines Sur, the hardest-hit provinces in Bicolandia.

The fund would yield 5,440 metric tons of rice, 510 metric tons of beans and 288 metric tons of oil -- good enough to fill the supplemental family package to be rationed to Reming victims and survivors for six months.

The monthly P1,500-package, which would consist of 50 kilograms of rice, five kilograms of mongo beans and three liters of oil, would be capable of providing five to six persons with 1,500 kilo calories each a day in the duration of the food program, said Social Welfare Secretary Esperanza Cabral.

Dubbed as the "Emergency Operation Operation-Relief and Recovery Assistance to Victims of Reming," the project shall address urgent food needs of individuals displaced by the typhoon and those involved in the rehabilitation and reconstruction of agricultural lands and community infrastructure, Cabral added.

"The food commodities are free of charge to the identified beneficiaries and will be distributed to them regardless of their race, religion or gender [and] its distribution is not associated with any religious or political group," the official said.

Cabral recently signed a Letter of Understanding with Valerie Guarnieri, UN-WFP country director and representative, for the implementation of the joint food project.

The agency also vowed to take "all necessary measures" to prevent unauthorized use of the commodities and ensure that these will be distributed solely to proper beneficiaries.

Last month, Cabral ordered her staff to account for all the foreign-donated tents it delivered to Bicol and stamp the DSWD logo and "Not for Sale" markings on all relief goods, whether food items, toiletries and beddings to ensure that unscrupulous parties would not resell the goods for profit.