BSP to restart operations in Tacloban

THE Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) will resume operations in Tacloban City this week or two weeks after supertyphoon Yolanda devastated several areas in Eastern Visayas.

“Insofar as the BSP is concerned, we will tentatively resume operations in Tacloban by Friday. Banks would now have supply of money to service cash requirements,” said Ma. Lux Berciles, BSP Cebu Regional head.

However, with communication lines still down, the BSP in Visayas has yet to receive reports from banks in Eastern Visayas.

Berciles said the banks may have already reported to their Manila office.

Assessment of the damage in BSP-Tacloban has been done and the BSP office there is undergoing repairs.

“The BSP in Tacloban is new and was installed with water-tight vaults. The money and important documents were spared from the typhoon, which spawned nine to 10 foot floodwaters which entered the building,” Berciles said.

Infrastructure and equipment such as computers and motor vehicles were damaged.

Berciles said they will be relying on generator sets to run the Tacloban office.

“We are ISO certified and we have business continuity plan, so we are able to resume operation.

Earthquake drill

As part of their annual activities, the BSP-Cebu also conducted an earthquake drill yesterday morning in their office along Jones Ave.

More than 100 employees of the office participated in the activity.

The BSP-Cebu office also suffered minor damage during 7.2-magnitude earthquake last October.

Berciles said some glass panels were broken and ceiling boards fell. Until now, some of their glass panels are still undergoing repair.

“It was a non-working holiday when it happened so there was not much of a problem when the earthquake happened. Those who were here when it happened were able to evacuate to safety,” she said. /Correspondent Jose Santino S. Bunachita