RICE AID.  ASEAN Plus Three Emergency Rice Reserve (APTERR) Secretariat Yasushi Uchikawa [2^nd from right] hands over a bag of Tier 3 Rice to NFA Assistant Administrator Jose D. Cordero and DSWD Director Priscilla N. Razon. The 23o metric tons rice donation will benefit Typhoon Pablo victims through the Food For Work scheme. Also in photo are NFA national and regional officials.

Uchikawa expressed his highest and sincerest appreciation to NFA and DSWD for the opportunity to carry out this initiative of APTERR and be able to help the people affected by Typhoon Pablo. He strongly believes that their efforts will go a long way in serving the families in distress.

“I thank the Japanese for helping the Philippines in its time of need,” Cordero said in his acceptance message.

With this donation from APTERR, Director Razon said 23,000 family-beneficiaries in Compostela Valley and Davao Oriental will get 10 kilos of rice each as they repair their damaged houses.

In her message, Director Razon conveyed her gratefulness and appreciation for the support of APTERR. She cited that JICA/Japan was one of the first responders following the devastation waged by Typhoon Pablo. “Ten kilos of rice can help a lot of families to reconstruct and rebuild their lives. We thank APTERR for taking the lead in donating this rice through NFA. The families would be very happy to partake of this rice.”

To date, DSWD has released Php 139,000,000.00 to 13,900 famlies whose houses were partially damaged. Total cost of assistance provided by the Department to families affected by Typhoon Pablo has reached Php 1,896,942,178.09 to cover food and non-food goods, burial, shelter repair, bunkhouses, permanent shelter, educational, livelihood skills training, cash for work and cash for training. DSWD