Philippines receives 400 metric tons of rice donation from the Republic of Korea.
EL SALVADOR CITY, MISAMIS ORIENTAL – Department of Agriculture Senior Undersecretary Domingo F. Panganiban expressed his gratitude on behalf of DA Secretary, President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. to the Republic of Korea’s Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (MAFRA) for their generous support and quick response to the Philippines through the 400 MT or 10,000 bags rice donations for calamity victims in the country.
Ambassador Inchul Kim, Embassy of the Republic of Korea in the Philippines, Choomjet Karnjanakesorn, General Manager of ASEAN Plus Three Emergency Rice Reserve (APTERR) Secretariat led the turnover of the milled rice to the DA, National Food Authority (NFA), DSWD and to the affected families of flooding and landslides due to the effects of the Low Pressure Area and the shear line in Regions 9, 10 and 11 in a ceremony on Tuesday, March 21, in this city.
USec. Panganiban said the assistance will be of great help to aid the Philippine government in its drive to recover and rehabilitate the calamity-affected communities of the hard-hit provinces in Mindanao.
Northern Mindanao’s allocation of 3,333 bags will be distributed to the affected families in Misamis Oriental and Occidental, where each family beneficiary will receive one bag of rice at 40 kilograms per bag which will be facilitated by the DSWD-Region X.
Ambassador Kim reaffirms its commitment to strengthening bilateral relations with the country, especially in disaster resiliency and response.
APTERR Tier 3 is a regional cooperation mechanism involving ASEAN member countries plus the Republic of Korea, Japan, and the People’s Republic of China.
Its humanitarian assistance aims to achieve food security in compliance with the Sustainable Development Goals and provides emergency rice assistance to victims of natural calamities in ASEAN countries.
The said assistance is the third batch of rice donations of the Republic of Korea to the Philippines under the APTERR-Tier 3 Program.
DA-10 OIC-Regional Executive Director Carlene C. Collado and Regional Technical Director for Operations Carlota S. Madriaga supported the activity with local officials.# (ATC)