Valve wide open for local aid for typhoon survivors

AT LEAST 1,000 families in the island-village of Hilantagaan in Bantayan, Cebu, receive sacks of relief from Casino Filipino Cebu, whose employees canceled their Christmas party to help storm survivors and were among the first to come to the aid of Bantayan. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

SAN PEDRO, Laguna—While international aid continues to pour in for survivors of Supertyphoon “Yolanda,” Filipinos in other parts of the country are doing their part to pitch in.

Officials and the people of Surigao del Norte, despite themselves being victims of the storm, are sending a team of volunteers to Tacloban and Palo in Leyte.

Vice Gov. Arturo Carlos Egay Jr. said a team from his province brought 167 sacks of cement to help in rebuilding efforts in the two Leyte cities.

The team also brought roofing and other construction materials.

A fisherman was killed and dozens of houses were destroyed at the height of Yolanda in Surigao del Norte.

Egay said the goods  the Surigao del Norte team was bringing to Leyte were part of the relief that were set aside, but not consumed, during a preemptive evacuation in Surigao del Norte.

In Laguna, the diocese of San Pablo has raised P4.5 million for survivors of Yolanda and survivors of the earthquake in Bohol.

Kelly Beltran, of the social action center of the diocese, said the donation could go up as the P4.5 million came from only 60 percent of parishes and communities in Laguna that collected money for Yolanda and Bohol quake survivors.

The Laguna provincial government canceled the province’s Christmas party to donate P1.5 million.

In Romblon, residents also pooled resources for survivors of Yolanda.

On Friday, at least 3,000 residents joined “Baktas Romblon,” a two-and-a-half-hour walk around the provincial capital. “Baktas” means walk in the native tongue.

The walk ended with a Mass during which residents gave cash and other donations.

Romblon, a third-class province with a high poverty incidence, was on Yolanda’s path and was placed under Storm Signal No. 4. The storm did not make a direct hit on the province although it left P170 million worth of damage to Romblon’s agriculture and infrastructure.

The United Kingdom, in a statement, reported that it has delivered food, shelter, clean water, medicine and other supplies to at least 800,000 survivors. Several flights of UK military aircraft delivered 17,488 shelter kits, 38,569 tarpaulins, 16,230 hygiene kits, 5,925 jerricans and several forklifts.

The UK government statement also said it helped at least 130,000 people build emergency shelter, fed more than 175,000 people, gave potable water to 250,000 people and helped deliver millions of kilograms of medicines.

In the province of Cebu, Casino Filipino Cebu canceled its Christmas party for employees and donated goods to at least 1,000 families in a village of Bantayan Island, one of the areas worst-hit by Yolanda in Cebu.

Casino personnel, according to a statement from the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp., gave 4,000 relief packs with rice, bottled water, noodles and canned goods.