Aid coming to typhoon-hit residents of Leyte, Caraga – Pacquiao

MANILA, Philippines — Another humanitarian flight organized by Senator Manny Pacquiao was on its way to Typhoon Odette-smashed Leyte province.

The humanitarian flight to Leyte involved a British Aerospace Avro RJ100 which took off from Manila at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday and arrived at the Tacloban Airport around 1 p.m. The flight contained 8 tons of various relief goods consisting of blankets, 65 boxes of solar-powered floodlights, and assorted food items such as cup noodles, mineral water, rice, and sardines.

The Leyte relief is just one of the many ongoing efforts of Pacquiao’s team to help those affected by the recent onslaught of Typhoon Odette (international name: Rai), the strongest tropical cyclone to barrel the country this year.

At around midnight also on Wednesday, Pacquiao said they dispatched a team with a truckload of relief goods to the Caraga Administrative Region. More truckloads of relief would follow, said the presidential aspirant – as soon as the first team submits a report on which areas in the region need aid the most.

“I expect our first truck to arrive tonight barring unforeseen circumstances. ‘Yung (The) first team will also assess which areas need more help,” Pacquiao said.

He then vowed to personally visit the affected areas immediately after first responders are done with their rescue and relief operations.

Also, Pacquiao said distribution of relief goods in various parts of Cebu province is ongoing. Two planeloads of assorted relief goods have been sent to Cebu in the past few days, including the Cebu Pacific airbus flight that became the first humanitarian flight to reach an area hit by Odette.

In Leyte, Gov. Leopoldo “Mic” Petilla and other provincial officials received the relief goods from Team Pacquiao’s Campaign Manager Buddy Zamora, communications head Bernard Peralta, and representatives of the Tzu Chi Foundation led by Mrs. Elsie Chua.

The donation was put together by the United Relief Operations (URO), a non-partisan umbrella organization of various aid groups organized by Pacquiao to provide humanitarian relief for Odette’s victims.

Apart from the Manny Pacquiao Foundation, URO is also composed of the group Wings Of Hope PH, the Tzu Chi Foundation, Veloce Group, Team Pacquiao GG, and some celebrity volunteers.

According to Petilla, the provincial government is still struggling to gather reports on the actual damage and the number of casualties in Leyte since mobile phone signals are still unavailable at the moment.

He added that the electricity supply was cut in the entire province since December 16, affecting 13 municipalities.