In recent years, the Department of Social Welfare and Development – the government agency leading social welfare initiatives across the country – addressed issues on relief distribution by beginning investment in new logistics facilities located in Manila and Cebu. We talked to Emmanuel Privado, director of the agency’s National Resource and Logistics Management Bureau, and his colleagues Eunice Angcao and Ronald Reonal.
How were the DSWD’s new facilities developed?
Several studies of the government’s response to Supertyphoon Yolanda identified operational bottlenecks and challenges mostly attributed to our logistical capacity: differences in communication, limited infrastructure and transportation, and limited capacity to produce and deliver relief items to communities that need them. We needed to respond faster, better and bolder, especially with the threat of climate change, by alleviating poverty incidence and developing resiliency in communities.
We also needed to improve our production and logistics capacity by strengthening our pre-positioning policy and improving both the NROC as well as our field offices and disaster response centers.
What makes these facilities unique?
We opened the National Resource Operations Center in Pasay City, with assistance from the Taiwan government, in 2010. This was later refurbished with help from the Australian government in 2015.
In partnership with the World Food Programme, we enhanced our facility’s ability to produce Family Food Packs through a mechanized production system. It has proven to be effective during typhoons, volcanic eruptions and the conflict in Marawi. However, our location posed a challenge in augmenting and transporting the FFPs from Pasay to far-flung regions. Thus, we established our Disaster Relief Center in Visayas.
How did the DSWD do things before the establishment of these facilities?
In the 1960s our predecessor agency maintained small stockrooms in Manila and Mandaluyong, before transitioning to using the facilities of the Villamore Air Base in response to devastating flooding in 1972. We were also allowed use of facilities in Camp Aguinaldo in response to the eruption of Mount Pinatubo in 1991.
In 2003, the National Resource Operations Center was formally established, evolving from a small stockroom of supplies to the government’s national facility for disaster response. Until recently, we were limited to one 600-square meter warehouse that could only stockpile up to 5,000 FFPs during the rainy season.
How did your colleagues and volunteers respond to these developments?
It has been hard at first, but just for a little while. Driven by the passion to serve those affected by disaster, this change was felt in no time. Through the mechanized production system, the repacking of FFPs became more systematic; thus we were able to immediately respond to needs during relief operations while maintaining operational efficiencies.
Our volunteers, as the DSWD’s bloodlines during relief operations, proved that there is no limit in providing services to the people that need their helping hands. It is with open arms that these changes have been embraced by these modern heroes. The changes in the DSWD’s processes have always been their goal in ensuring they are up to the challenge of bringing more for our people.
How did the new system improve your service levels for those impacted by calamities?
We can now produce 20,000 Family Food Packs in one eight-hour shift manned by 110 people. That’s enough to feed 100,000 people for two to three days. Previously we were only able to repack 15,000 FFPs with the assistance of 4,500 volunteers. Also, due to improved processes in handling, packing and storing these items, the DSWD continues to record a decline in material handling wastage, way below its allowable threshold.
These improvements also allowed us to enhance our skills in emergency logistics and humanitarian supply chain management, and implement functional design and workplace efficiency, and improved supply chain.
What challenges do the DSWD continue to face in distributing relief despite these new facilities?
We must admit that being in the government limits us to provide assistance for all, especially during the pandemic, when there is a massive requirement for government support due to quarantine protocols. With our very limited resources for logistics, funding for capital outlay for the acquisition of logistics assets like warehouses, handling equipment, and others, and volunteers during repacking, the DSWD makes extra effort in outsourcing resources from a wide network of partners and linkages from other government agencies, local governments, and private organizations.
Being an active member and cluster lead of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, we were also able to realize and maximize the resources provided by other cluster members.
How can other players in the private sector help the DSWD better deliver its services to those in need?
As it gears towards building its own resource capacities for response, we are able to identify bigger gaps. With this, exploratory and coordination meetings are being conducted with recognized partners, and MOAs are forged to affirm partnership.
Through the leadership of the DSWD during relief operations, partners may register donations of goods like family food pack components, food for volunteers, and other non-food items; services like repacking of FFPs, delivery of DSWD FNIs, and digitalization of inventory management system; and assets like warehouses and transport vehicles, subject to the assessment and approval based on the needs identified.
As we continue to provide services to the Filipino people, we look forward to expanding the current network of partners and linkages for a more inclusive response. In turn, we can provide the best services for our people, the kind of services they deserve.