Forty tons of "high-energy" biscuits intended for distribution to Mindanao evacuees displaced by recent conflict arrived at the Davao International Airport on Sunday, the World Food Program (WFP) announced.
The WFP is an aid agency of the United Nations, which responds to humanitarian crisis such as hunger across the globe.
Since fighting between government forces and Moro rebels broke out in different parts of Mindanao in August, displacing thousands of residents in Mindanao areas, the WFP had managed to distribute some 2,200 metric tons of food to 87,000 families or nearly half a million people, said Stephen Anderson, WFP country director and representative.
Anderson told that the biscuits would be ideal for children evacuees aged "2 to 6-years old," who have been starving and under threat of malnutrition.
The biscuits were fortified with vitamins and minerals that would serve as "effective supplement" but not necessarily as a substitute for the regular food, Anderson said.
The biscuits are manufactured in Turkey, using skimmed milk imported from United States.
The biscuits will be distributed in specific areas in Mindanao, according to Patricia Artadi Facultad, public information officer for the WFP country director.
Roland Uy, the logistic assistant officer of WFP said since the relief assistance started in August, all of their goods in the inventory were immediately exhausted.
"Ubos agad (immediately gone)," he said at the Davao Airport cargo section.
The WFP has distributed goods like rice and dates from the Middle East.
But considering the number of the evacuees and the uncertainty as to when the conflict will end, Uy said he feared their stock might not be enough.
Anderson expressed hope for an end to the conflict so that "people will go back to their homes and resume normal lives."
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