Iloilo City allots P14M for calamities in 2024

FIRE. A fire burns over 60 houses during a conflagration in Barangay Habog-Habog Salvacion in Molo district, Iloilo City on Dec. 16, 2023. The city government has allocated PHP14 million to buy food and non-food items in case of calamities this year. (File photo by CDRRMO-USAR)

ILOILO CITY – The city government here has allocated P14 million for food and non-food items in case of calamities this year. 

Teresa Gelogo, City Social Welfare and Development Office (CSWDO) head, on Tuesday said her office has a P5 million budget for food items and P2 million for non-food. “We also have an additional P5 million for food and another P2 million for non-food from the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office,” she added. The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) also provides augmentation when needed.

Last year, the city government spent P5.996 million to buy food and non-food items and released P6.877 million for families displaced by fire, flood, typhoon, and tornado. Gelogo said she has also talked with CDRRM officer Donna Magno about using the regional evacuation center in Barangay Sooc Arevalo in case there are families displaced by calamities this year.

The CDRRM council approved during their meeting last month the local disaster risk reduction and management (LDRRM) fund annual investment plan for 2024, which contains, among others, the P10 million fund for the improvement of the regional evacuation center and the P10.8 million for supplies and materials, stockpiling of food and non-food items, and meals during operations. (PNA)