Monkayo moves to help Yolanda survivors this time

MONKAYO, Compostela Valley, Philippines – It’s payback time for this storm-devastated municipality with residents and local officials initiating a relief drive to help typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) victims in the Visayas.

About six truckloads of goods — consisting of hundreds of sacks of rice and clothing – have been gathered and will be transported to Yolanda-devastated areas on Monday, according to Joan Pintal, the municipal information officer.

“We felt the pain, suffering and need of those in areas hit by Yolanda and we want to help them,” Pintal said.

At least 100 people died and thousands more were left homeless when ‘Pablo’ hit the town on Dec. 4, 2012. It was among the areas of Compostela Valley – where over a thousand were killed – which was hardest hit by Pablo.

Officials here recalled that people from Tacloban City and Southern Leyte donated goods, and linemen and electricians from the Leyte Electric Cooperative (Leyeco) were among the first ones to help restore power lines here that were toppled by Pablo’s howling winds.

“The local government would also send a team of electricians to Leyte to return the favor,” Pintal said, adding that “this is a sort of paying them back for their help when we were hit by a similar calamity last year.”

Mayor Joselito Brillantes would be leading the Monkayo relief team, which also includes soldiers and civilian volunteers tasked to assist in debris clearing operations.

On Friday, the Philippine Daily Inquirer saw at the porch of the municipal hall some women volunteers sorting out and packing clothing and other relief goods.

Pintal said the goods were donations from across the town’s 21 villages.

“We want to make sure clothes included in the relief packs are really usable,” Clarita Tancontian, a volunteer from the Monkayo Council of Women, said.

Tancontian said more donations were coming in and they were by the truckloads.

“Even those in far-flung purok (communities) who were still recovering from last year’s typhoon were donating whatever Yolanda victims could use,” she said.

Tancotian said the relief drive has so far collected over 1,000 sacks of clothing and other relief goods.

“We have to speed up our sorting activities to ensure that most of these would be ready before Monday,” she told the Inquirer as she raised a child’s clothing to examine it did not contain any damage.

Pintal said the town government’s more than 300 employees and workers have also pitched in cash from as low as P150 to as high as P500.

She said they were looking at generating at least P300,000 cash that could be used to buy more relief goods for Yolanda victims.

Fe Maestre, Compostela Valley provincial spokesperson, she learned that the Montevista town government also staged a relief drive and that whatever donations raised through it would be sent through the Monkayo contingent.

The Compostela Valley provincial government has also been finalizing a plan to send relief to Visayas, she said.

“Definitely, as per information, the provincial government is sending help maybe after (the Pablo disaster) anniversary on Dec. 4,” Maestre said. “The assistance would be more on post-disaster aftercare like stress debriefing,” he added.

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