Albay gives P1.5-M cash aid to quake-hit Mindanao

LEGAZPI CITY –– Albay province has sent P1.5-million cash assistance to three earthquake-hit provinces in Mindanao, Albay Gov. Al Francis Bichara said on Friday.

Bichara, who is also the Albay Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council chairman, said he signed on Friday three checks worth P500,000 each as donations to Davao Del Sur, Davao City, and North Cotabato, the provinces hardest hit by a series of quakes that rocked Mindanao over the past weeks.

Cedric Daep, Albay Public Safety Emergency and Management Office chief, said a representative from the provincial social welfare office would turn over the checks on Monday.

Daep, in an interview, said the assistance was endorsed by members of the provincial board in a resolution and approved by Bichara on Wednesday.

Daep said the cash assistance would be used to augment the relief operations for displaced families in these places.

On Sunday, the Department of Social Welfare and Development in Bicol shipped several truckloads of relief materials worth P12 million to the earthquake-hit areas in Mindanao./lzb