More than 70 health workers, social workers, nuns, journalists and environmentalists have accused government soldiers of sabotaging their transportation, which had forced them to spend the night in a hinterland village in Baganga, Davao Oriental.
The military took a swipe at militant groups, saying noisy protests are not helping survivors of Typhoon “Pablo” any.
To avoid charges of politicking, the Department of Social Welfare and Development should suspend relief operations in disaster areas and conflict zones during the campaign period for local elections, Commission on Elections chair Sixto Brillantes Jr. said Tuesday.
The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority has sent a 60-member team to the provinces of Compostela Valley and Davao Oriental, which were hit hardest by Typhoon “Pablo” last December, to help in the repair of damaged classrooms and the construction of new ones.
Evangelist Brother Eddie Villanueva assailed the Department of Social Welfare and Development on Wednesday for its “failure to quickly and efficiently distribute relief goods” in areas of Mindanao that were ravaged by Typhoon “Pablo”.
Survivors of Typhoon “Pablo” from Compostela Valley and Davao Oriental stormed the regional office of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), forcing its gates open, jumping over its walls and taking off with sacks and boxes of relief goods on Tuesday.
More than 4,000 residents of Compostela Valley and Davao Oriental affected by Typhoon Pablo in December will be hired to assist in the government’s reforestation effort in the disaster-hit areas, the government said on Tuesday.
More than 3,000 residents devastated by Typhoon Pablo in the provinces of Compostela Valley and Davao Oriental marched to the gates of the regional office of the Department of Social Welfare and Development here, on Monday, and set up camp to demand that government extend relief operations.
The Geneva-based International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on Friday said it needed more than P1.3 billion in additional donations to support its efforts in Pablo-devastated areas because “humanitarian needs [there are] still staggeringly high more than two months” after the typhoon made landfall.
Protesters here on Tuesday night lifted their human barricade as the government gave in to their demand of fair distribution of relief goods to typhoon-affected areas.
As schools here open on Monday, a week behind schedule, teachers are faced with the tough challenge on how to lure back students still coping with the devastation brought by typhoon Pablo.
The December 18 road accident in Davao Oriental — which injured six Maguindanao doctors and their driver on the way to a medical mission for typhoon Pablo victims — has not deterred the province’s health workers from holding another mission there, the Maguindanao provincial health chief said on Friday.
In the predominantly Catholic Philippines, the first signs of Christmas appear months before the actual event: shops playing Christmas carols on their audio loops, brightly decorated trees, neon Santas and reindeers are colorfully displayed outside shops and plazas. It is hard to get away from the holiday over-load.
