Marcos expands disaster stockpile, automates relief

PRESIDENT Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. said the government is building up its disaster stockpile and automating relief operations as it prepares for more frequent climate shocks, after inaugurating a mechanized repacking facility in Cebu province.

At the launch of the Visayas Disaster Resource Center’s mechanized production system in Tingub village, Mandaue City on Thursday, Mr. Marcos said the upgraded hub could produce as many as 30,000 family food packs a day at full capacity. That compares with 5,000 to 8,000 packs previously assembled by hand.

“Its production will continue until it reaches about five million,” he said in Filipino. “This is a big help.”

The Philippines, which lies along the Pacific Ring of Fire, faces about 20 typhoons a year and ranks among the world’s most disaster-prone countries.

The P117-million upgrade turns the facility into the main production, storage and logistics hub for relief operations in the Visayas and Mindanao. It forms part of a plan to pre-position supplies across major island groups and cut response times when storms, earthquakes or health emergencies hit.

Mr. Marcos said about four million food packs are in storage, with output continuing until inventories exceed five million.

Five mechanized production lines have been installed in the Visayas hub. The system uses vacuum sealing to extend shelf life and reduce spoilage, allowing goods to be stored longer in disaster-prone areas. Similar facilities are operating in Luzon, while a separate center in Butuan City for Mindanao is under construction and due to open late next year.

The push to stockpile and automate comes as climate-related losses strain public finances and test the government’s ability to respond quickly to successive storms.

Also on Thursday, Mr. Marcos expanded an anti-poverty program aimed at homeless people, seeking tighter coordination between national agencies and local governments before the 2027 budget cycle.

He inaugurated a Pag-Abot Processing Center in Cebu that consolidates health screening, biometric registration, temporary shelter and livelihood assessment in one site. The facility is designed to move beneficiaries from street rescue to intake and reintegration.

More than 600 homeless people have been recorded in Cebu by the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

The center will serve as an access point for food, clothing, psychosocial support and short-term housing before beneficiaries are endorsed for longer-term assistance such as livelihood support or family reunification.

Social Welfare Secretary Rexlon T. Gatchalian said the Pag-Abot program is meant to link recipients to mainstream social protection, including assessment for the government’s conditional cash transfer program.

Launched in 2023 and institutionalized the following year, the program is being folded into the administration’s broader anti-poverty framework. — Chloe Mari A. Hufana