SAN PEDRO, LAGUNA, Philippines—The head of the Laguna Mayors League has appealed to the national and provincial governments to help the province’s chief executives cope with the flood left by Tropical Storm “Ondoy” which hasn’t subsided for more than two weeks now.

“We are helpless. Until Saturday, we had not had concrete plans (on how to deal with the flooding),” said Gilmore Acero, mayor of Siniloan town and league president.

He said mayors were expecting the provincial government to call for a meeting of all mayors of calamity-stricken towns but no such meeting was called.

The Laguna Mayors League is composed of the local chief executives of 27 towns. The province has three cities.

16 hardest hit

Out of the 27 towns, 16 were hard hit by the storm that brought water levels rising in Laguna Lake and swallowing entire villages.

Running a small town in the southernmost district of the province, Acero also appealed for attention, even from media organizations going around on relief drives.

“We are not like the other richer towns that could provide evacuation centers to house all the affected families. I do not know now how to supplement our calamity fund,” he said.

He said the town is running out of resources to continue providing relief to its people who have been forced out of their homes by the floods.

Least attention

He said that since Day One, Siniloan gets the least attention from civic groups that have been going around in areas that needed relief.

“We understand that, because they were also damaged, for example in Cainta. But when they come to Laguna, help has mostly gone to (neighboring towns of) Famy and Mabitac,” he said.

“Now that they are slowly recovering, maybe it’s time they could help us, too,” he pleaded.

At least 1,754 families were displaced by floods in Siniloan. The town has only two evacuation centers to house the displaced families.

Not for long

“There are still relief (goods) coming here. But those will not last for long,” said Lumban Mayor Wilfredo Paraiso.

At least 1,459 families were displaced by floods in the town and most of the aid came from nongovernment organizations, he added.

But Calixto Cataquiz, mayor of San Pedro, the nearest town to Metro Manila, said aid from the national government and other organizations poured in “and we are thankful for that.”

At least About 3,000 families in the town were displaced by the flood. At least 300 of the families were squatters.

“Illegal settlers will now have to leave the shorelines,” he said, adding that it would no longer be safe for the people to reside along the lake coasts.

Bulacan relocation

Laguna Lake Development Authority General Manager Edgardo Manda said he was urging the local government units to relocate the communities living along the lake coasts.

He said the National Housing Authority had allotted a relocation site that can house up to 100,000 families in San Miguel, Bulacan, although the facilities are still being readied. There are also relocation areas in San Pedro, Sta Rosa City, and Calauan in Laguna, he added.

Asked for reaction on the move to relocate lakeshore communities, Calamba City Mayor Joaquin Chipeco said it would exact a high cost from the city government.

“Land prices here are already high,” he said.

Help yourselves

Chris Sanji, Laguna information officer, said the provincial government has conducted relentless relief operations in the flooded towns.

“The governor herself (Ningning Lazaro) and provincial administrator Dennis Lazaro joined the relief distribution,” he said in an earlier interview.

“They are saying that the provincial government is not helping them, but they, too, have to help themselves,” said Valentin Guidote, deputized coordinator of the Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council.

He said the PDCC has distributed at least 32,150 packed goods.

“We just have to go directly to the people (during relief distributions),” Guidote said, adding that there are municipalities who replaced the plastic bags containing the goods in order to get the credit for helping the people. Maricar P. Cinco, Inquirer Southern Luzon