This refers to the editorial titled, ?Profiteers and looters.? (Inquirer, 9/30/09) The fifth paragraph stated that ?There was a report that the DSWD office in Pasig City was repacking already packed relief bags, reducing their contents. This is another kind of profiteering.?

We wish to clarify that the Department of Social Welfare and Development mentioned here is not the DSWD National Office but the Social Welfare Office of Pasig City under the Office of the Mayor.

The role of the DSWD National Office during a disaster is to assist the affected local government units by providing more resources, technical assistance and supervision in the management of evacuation centers.

Moreover, the DSWD manages the National Resource Operations Center (NROC) which serves as the national facility for storage and handling of all donations and relief goods and commodities of the DSWD. It serves as a venue for stripping and opening container vans of goods donated to the DSWD or to NGOs; and for repacking and safekeeping of goods until shipped or transferred to their final destination.

We are pleased to invite the Inquirer to visit the NROC where volunteers from different sectors assist in the repacking of relief goods.

?DR. ESPERANZA I. CABRAL,
secretary, Department of
Social Welfare and Development