NEWS BRIEFS

Ormoc City picking itself up after ‘Yolanda’

GASOLINE stations, banks, stores and other commercial establishments in Ormoc City have resumed operations five days after it was struck by super typhoon “Yolanda.”

Those from Tacloban City and neighboring areas headed to the Ormoc public market to buy food.

Edna Batuigas, a 35-year-old native of Jaro town, Leyte province, traveled two hours to buy food for her family and make phone calls after cell sites were restored in Ormoc City.

“We are afraid of clashes between armed groups and the military,” Batuigas said referring to recent reports of encounters in roads leading to Tacloban City.

The ferry terminal was packed with passengers from different towns in Leyte who wanted to escape Tacloban City, where communications, power and water supply are still down.

Renato Polido, a 51-year-old tricycle driver residing in Barangay Airport, Tacloban City took more than an hour to re-fuel at the nearest gasoline station in Ormoc City.

Still, there were signs of recovery in Ormoc City, whose streets were filled anew with stallholders.

The Ormoc Airport was also filled with people hoping to hitch a free ride to either Manila or Cebu on board a  C-130 plane.

The airport is also a drop-in center for relief goods from Mactan-Cebu International Airport. Correspondent Norman V. Mendoza

Police monitoring escaped inmates from Leyte

THE Regional Intelligence Division (RID) of the Police Regional Office asked for the records of 700 escaped inmates from Leyte and Tacloban City who broke out in the aftermath of typhoon Yolanda.

Supt. Paul Labra, RID director, said there were 550 prisoners from the Leyte Provincial Jail and  150 detainees from the Tacloban City jail who escaped hours after last Friday’s typhoon.

Labra said personnel were sent to monitor the entry points in Cebu for these escaped inmates. Reporter Jucell Marie P. Cuyos

Visit northern Cebu, solon asks P-Noy

REP. Benhur Salimbangon of Cebu’s 4th district called on President Benigno Aquino III to visit his district and the rest of northern Cebu so he can extend assistance to the affected families there.

He said 80 percent of the half a million residents in his district are still without food, water, power and housing five days after super typhoon Yolanda struck the country.

There are also those who continue to line up along municipal roads to appeal for help from passersby.

“Nakalimtan na man nila ang Cebu (They forgot Cebu again),” said Salimbangon, a member of the One Cebu party.

Cebu’s 4th district received 131 food packs from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

Salimbangon’s sister, Mariquita Salimbangon-Yeung, is receiving pledges from friends in Hong Kong.

Yeung, chairperson of the Beautiful Cebu Movement, is also kept busy repacking  relief supplies that she and Rep. Salimbangon bought with their money in  Cebu City. Yeung said their movement is also organizing a fund-raiser later this month to raise more wherewithal for relief goods.

Margie Lhuillier, movement co-chairperson, said they will also be giving 6,000 sacks of cement that were unused from their Osmeña Boulevard beautification project. Chief of Reporters Doris C. Bongcac