South comes to aid North

Twelve local government units (LGUs) in southern Cebu extended relief assistance to their neighbors in the north who were battered by supertyphoon “Yolanda.”

Trucks filled with relief goods from the cities of Carcar and Naga and the towns of Moalboal, Sibonga, Alcoy, Badian, Dalaguete, Oslob, Ginatilan, Ronda, Aloguinsan and Malabuyoc formed a long column of aid convoy that motored to typhoon-hit towns in northern Cebu.

Their assistance came amid an assurance by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to the northern Cebu towns that “they were not forgotten” by the national government.

Shalaine Marie Lucero, chief of the regional DSWD Protective Services Unit, said this in response to Rep. Benhur Salimbangon of Cebu’s 4th district who said that Cebu “was forgotten” because government aid is focused in Tacloban City. Naga City donated P1.2 million worth of relief goods.

Joint effort

Naga City Mayor Valdemar Chiong said he spoke to officials of the southern towns and together they mapped out a plan on how to mount the relief mission to the 15 LGUs in the north and four municipalities in Camotes Island.

He said they all agreed that the relief goods will be jointly delivered to the families in the towns of Sogod to Tabuelan.

Chiong said Naga City contributed 7,000 relief packs. Each town will get 500 packs .

A relief pack contains two kilos of rice, three canned sardines, four noodle packs and two bottles of water.

DSWD’s Lucero said the typhoon-hit northern Cebu towns can coordinate with her office for the shipment of the relief goods.

Salimbangon earlier said northern Cebu lost more than 100,000 homes to Yolanda.

Not forgotten

“To Congressman Salimbangon, the DSWD is trying its best to cover all of north Cebu and ensure that it is definitely not forgotten,” Lucero said in a press conference yesterday.

Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide III admitted that relief aid from the Cebu provincial government did not reach a number of barangays in northern Cebu towns.

Lucero said the DSWD targeted 107,869 food packs for affected residents in northern Cebu. She said they already released 48,446 food packs but they don’t have enough trucks to deliver the rest. “Our arrangement with the towns is that they will provide the transportation of the food packs,” she said.

First responders

Lucero said the LGUs are the first responders in every crisis followed by the national government.

She said their food supplies can still last for the next 30 days, depending on the assessment of the immediate needs of the affected residents.