Disaster ‘food banks’
AS a favorite “sparring partner” of typhoons and storms, impoverished Philippines must ensure that it meets the food, medical and other basic needs of the people during calamities.
Every year, an average of 20 typhoons and storms, some of them destructive, ravage the country, killing people and destroying millions of pesos worth of property and crops.
Aware of this, the House of Representatives has approved a proposed legislation that mandates the establishment of disaster food facilities in all provinces across the country.
Under the proposed measure, the facility, to be called “food bank,” will serve as a central repository of food andical supplies, such as medicines and antidotes
Dinagat Island Lone District Rep. Alan Ecleo said that his House Bill (HB) No. 5245 was one of three bills consolidated and passed by the Committee on Appropriations.
The facility will also contaIn other essential goods like but not limited to portable power source, first aid kits, portable light source, clothing, tents and communication devices.
In seeking the setting up of “food banks,” Ecleo said that no province will have to grapple with massive starvation and inadequate food resources because of transportation woes.
“Madalas kasi ay hindi nakararating ang relief goods, lalo na ang pagkain, sa isang liblib na lugar kasi sira o lubog sa tubig-baha ang mga kalye,” said a barangay health worker.
“Kaya nga malaking tulong ang pagkakaroon ng “food bank” sa mga probinsiya para masigurado na may makakain ang mga taong hindi makalabas sa barangay para bumili ng pagkain,” she said.
Thus, members of Congress have no choice but to speed up the approval of the proposed piece of legislation.
Hindi ba, House Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez at Senate President Juan Miguel “Migz” Zubiri?
