AMWSLAI starts calamity loans
The Air Materiel Wing Savings and Loan Association Inc. (AMWSLAI) has started giving calamity loans at reduced interest rates to its members in the earthquake and typhoon affected areas in Eastern, Central and Western Visayas.
In a statement, AMWSLAI Chair Ricardo L. Nolasco Jr. said the Board of Trustees had also devised a system to ensure faster processing and release of loans.
Nolasco said thousands of AMWSLAI members and their families were affected by the two recent calamities and they deserve immediate relief from the association.
There are more than 207,000 AMWSLAI members all over the country, most of whom are soldiers and policemen and their families.
“Amid the devastation of the recent calamities, our men in uniform, soldiers and policemen were at the forefront of the rescue and rehabilitation efforts of government even risking their own lives,” Nolasco said.
He said calamity loans at reduced interest rates are available to AMWSLAI members who are currently assigned to or residents of the affected areas.
Aside from donations in cash and in kind, which included the budget for a Christmas party that were sent to government relief agencies, Nolasco said the Board of Trustees of AMWSLAI had also mobilized its personnel who were not affected by the earthquake and the storm to help in the rehabilitation of the devastated areas.
AMWSLAI is a nonstock, nonprofit association that caters to retired and active members of the Armed Forces and the Philippine National Police. It was organized in 1956.
It is the second largest nonstock savings and loan association in the country and a pioneer in the industry.
More aid coming from Team Bicol
The local government of Legazpi, in partnership with Sunwest Group Holding Company Inc. (Sunwest Group) and other private firms, is deploying more aid to Central Visayas.
Team Bicol is sending additional dump trucks, a boom truck and fuel tanker together with a 19-man contingent of electricians, mechanics and cooks from Sunwest Construction and Development Corp. and Misibis Bay. Other volunteers from private firms in Legazpi City were also mobilized to augment the first team of Sunwest volunteers who first arrived in Leyte on Nov. 12.
To date, Team Bicol has deployed more than 20 dump trucks and earth moving machines courtesy of Sunwest Group. The team is currently helping in massive clearing operations in Palo, Leyte.
“Aside from trucks and heavy equipment, the team is carrying relief goods donated by the local government, private citizens, NGOs and Bicol media. The group also brought a big generator set and two units of tower lights,” Legazpi City Mayor Noel Rosal said in a statement.
Aside from helping in cleanup operations, Team Bicol will also conduct feeding missions in devastated Palo town. As of Nov. 18, Team Bicol’s initial salvo of humanitarian relief benefited close to 6,000 persons in various parts of Leyte.