Following the President’s directive to preposition goods and speed up logistics, DSWD Secretary Rex Gatchalian came up with The Buong Bansa: Handa Project – an initiative which is one of the priority programs of DSWD which is a holistic approach to disaster preparedness, with emphasis on collating actions, shared responsibilities, and collective efforts between the national, local government, and private sector.

On September 9, 2023, the Special Assistant to the Secretary (SAS) for Disaster Response Management, SAS Ma. Isabel Lanada together with DSWD Field Office Director Mari-Flor Dollaga, and DRMD Division Chief Melanie Juan, met District Representative Romeo Momo Sr. and Gov. Alexander Pimentel of Surigao del Sur to inspect the logistics capacity of the warehouse in the province and they responded positively, praising Sec. Gatchalian for the initiative.

Right after the meeting, SAS Lanada along with the Field Office team then traveled to Surigao City to also inspect the warehouse for Surigao Del Norte province.