Pangilinan calls on gov’t agencies to speed up relief aid distribution  

Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan has called on different government agencies to provide immediate assistance to communities affected by heavy rains in the last two weeks.

The call was made after the National Disaster and Risk Reduction Management Council reported that the damage to infrastructure and agriculture in six regions of Luzon and one region in the Visayas brought by “habagat” or southwest monsoon and recent tropical cyclones has reached at least P2.4 billion.

“Now that we have the numbers, concerned government agencies should be able to focus their resources and efforts to help the victims recover,” Pangilinan said in a statement on Monday.

The senator asked the social welfare department and local government units to remain in the frontlines of aid distribution of immediate necessities such as food packs, health kits, and clean water.

He also called on the health department to check the condition of the people and avert the spread of diseases.

The Department of Public Works and Highways should clear the roads and immediately fix damaged infrastructures, Pangilinan added.

Meanwhile, the Department of Agriculture and its attached agencies were asked to provide relief assistance to affected farmers and help them gain access to free seedlings, loans, and other assistance to recover.

Pangilinan added that the Department of Budget and Management should make “a report on the available funds that may be tapped for this purpose lodged in the President’s contingency fund and in the budget of the departments.”

“The rains may have stopped, but the misery of a number of our countrymen continues. Let us not let their woeful condition be drowned in the noise of politics. Help should reach them faster so that they could rise from this calamity,” Pangilinan said. /ee