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BACOLOD CITY — A “One Cebu Island” Christmas light-up ceremony is slated on December 16 at the Cebu provincial capitol, exactly a year after the onslaught of Typhoon Odette (international name: Rai).
Aside from provincial officials, the ceremonies will include all of the 50 mayors of component towns and cities of Cebu province as well as the independent cities of Cebu, Mandaue, and Lapu-Lapu.
When Typhoon Odette hit Cebu, it left more than 90 people dead and damages amounting to P1 billion. There was no power and water supply to most homes in the central and southern portions of the island for about a month.
“We do not want to commemorate or dwell upon the misery and the hardship that we went through. We wish that on this 16th of December, we will send out a message of hope and unity,” said Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia in an interview.
READ: LOOK: Wrath of #OdettePH in Cebu
She said the Christmas lights-up ceremony will be anchored on the theme “In unity there is hope, and when we have hope, we can unite.”
The three independent cities, which are not under the jurisdiction of the Cebu provincial government, will be participating. Expected to attend are Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama, Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes, and Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Junard Chan.
Meanwhile, the Department of Education in Central Visayas (DepEd-7) has announced that there are now only about a thousand classrooms left unrepaired out of the more 5,000 rooms that were damaged by Odette in December 2021.
In a separate interview, Deped-7 director Salustiano Jimenez said he thanked the local governments and the non-government organizations for helping in the repair of the classrooms throughout the region.
“This is aside from the help from the central office with Secretary Sara (Duterte) always on the go and always following up for updates on the repairs,” Jimenez said.