SAN FERNANDO CITY, La Union -- More than P16 million worth of relief assistance has so far been provided to the province of Pangasinan by the Field Office 1 of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

Regional Director Leonardo Reynoso said recipients of the relief assistance were the 35 municipalities and two cities, which were heavily affected by Typhoon Pepeng.

Sun.Star accepts donations for victims of Typhoon Ondoy

He said the relief assistance includes 46,082 family food packs worth P7.4 million.

Of which, 11,000 family packs worth P1,727,700 were distributed by the DSWD National Relief Operations Center to the affected municipalities and cities in the province; the DSWD Field Office 1 delivered P1.9 million worth of family packs; while the Oplan: Sagip Baya of the Office of the President provided P4,153,740.

Meanwhile, the Disaster Operations Command Post in Rosales, Pangasinan was supervised by Secretary Hermogenes Esperon Jr. of the Presidential Management Staff (PMS).

The command post distributed 6,000 family packs from the DSWD national relief operations center.

The World Food Program also provided 1,620 boxes of high energy biscuits and 6,668 sacks of rice worth P8.3 million. The sacks of rice were withdrawn from the National Food Authority (NFA) by the respective municipal and city social welfare officers.

Trucks as well as volunteers who delivered/transported the relief goods from the DSWD field office here to the recipient localities in Pangasinan were provided by the Regional Disaster Coordinating Council.

Reynoso said the DSWD is coordinating with the Pangasinan Social Welfare and Development Office for the consolidation of rehabilitation plans of the different localities.

The rehabilitation plan, he added, will include proposed projects and activities that would assist in the restoration and rehabilitation of the typhoon victims.

The province of Pangasinan experienced the biggest flooding in the history after a great volume of water was released from the San Roque dam after the water level at the reservoir reached the critical level.

Floodwater in a lot of areas in Eastern and Central Pangasinan reached as high as three to four meters. (LCMY/Sunnex)