• By Tracy Cabrera
In a gesture of charity and friendship, the South Korean government bought PhP10 million worth of locally-produced rice from the Philippines that would be donated to poor Filipino families affected by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) received the rice donation from Seoul amid the intensifying effects of the pandemic on the livelihood of Filipinos across the archipelago. The donation has a total of 200 metric tons of locally-produced rice to be distributed among 33,334 households or 166,670 individuals.
Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) secretary Rolando Joselito Bautista received the donation from South Korean ambassador Han Dong-man in a simple turnover ceremony last week at the DSWD National Resource Operations Center (NROC) in Pasay City.
DSWD National Resource and Logistics Management Bureau (NRLMB) received the first batch of the rice donation last July 8 with a shipment of 100 metric tons of rice from Iloilo. The second batch for the remaining 100 metric tons arrived on July 11 and 12.
The rice donation will be repacked by DSWD and will form part of the agency’s Family Food Packs program, which are being provided as resource augmentation support to local government units to help them respond to the food needs of their constituents.
Bautista thanked the South Korean government for the aid.
“During these trying times, we emerge stronger because of our robust partnership and unwavering engagement,” the secretary enthused.
“We are grateful for your utmost consideration for our people and we hope that this partnership will continue to prosper in the years to come,” he added.
