Quezon City gives P50M to 44 storm-hit provinces

Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista

Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista has signed an ordinance setting the guidelines for the equitable distribution of the city’s P50-million donation to relief and rehabilitation efforts in 44 provinces recently ravaged by Supertyphoon “Yolanda.”

The mayor on Tuesday also asked the various city government offices and barangays (villages) to cancel Christmas parties so that their officials and employees could “direct their energies and resources” to helping disaster victims.

Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte and the city council earlier authorized the mayor to donate P50 million to 44 provinces in the Visayas, Calabarzon, Mimaropa, Bicol, Caraga, Davao and Northern Mindanao regions. Government estimates said Yolanda’s wrath severely affected 2.2 million families in 574 municipalities and 57 cities.

Under the ordinance, the P50 million would be distributed depending on the extent of the typhoon damage per area.

In a city or municipality where the estimated damage was pegged at P1 million to P10 million, P300,000 would be allocated. If the damage was P10 million to P20 million, P500,000 would be released; where the damage was P20 million to P30 million, P1 million would be allotted.

In areas where the damage to property and infrastructure was worth P30 million to P50 million, Quezon City would give P1.5 million. Local governments reporting a P50-million damage would get a P2-million donation from the city.

Meanwhile, Bautista ordered the cancellation of all Christmas parties in the different offices, departments, and operating units at the city government. The order was also addressed to barangay chairs and council members.

“In view of the massive destruction of properties and loss of lives brought about by Yolanda in the Eastern Visayas and in keeping with the somber atmosphere that the country is now experiencing, agency-wide and office parties for the holiday season are hereby canceled,” the mayor said.—Jeannette I. Andrade