QC, Valenzuela set more aid for Leyte, West Samar

BAUTISTA. QC WEBSITE

To help typhoon-ravaged communities in Leyte province get back on their feet, the Quezon City government has set aside an initial P10 million to pay residents in three towns who will be hired in ongoing recovery and rehabilitation efforts.

The city government also pledged 100 motorized boats to be donated to fishermen who lost their vessels at the height of Supertyphoon “Yolanda” in November.

In a statement Sunday, Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista, who personally supervised the city’s humanitarian mission from Dec. 16 to 20 in its “adopted” municipalities of Tolosa, Sta. Fe and Palompon, said local workers should be hired for the reconstruction of school buildings, municipal halls and health centers, as well as for road-clearing and maintenance operations.

The P10 million would form part of the city’s cash-for-work program in the three towns and “will be replenished as the need arises,” Bautista said. The amount is on top of the P50 million donated by Quezon City to 44 Yolanda-affected provinces.

City Engineer Joselito Cabungcal said carpentry tools and two power generators would also be handed over to the municipalities of Tolosa and Sta. Fe. The city’s environmental protection and waste management department would provide shovels, rubber boots, hand gloves, chain saws, life jackets and crash helmets.

Earlier, the city gave solar lighting and charging systems, medicines and other basic necessities, Cabungcal said.

In Palompon, Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte turned over Quezon City’s P6.1-million donation to town Mayor Ramon Oñate.

Also on Sunday, the Valenzuela City government pledged continuing assistance to the towns of Basey and Marabut in Western Samar, where it had conducted two relief missions. A third mission is being planned for January next year.

GATCHALIAN. VALENZUELA PIO

“From the outset, I have said that our help for Basey and Marabut would be a sustained effort. We would send whatever help we can until they are finally back on their feet again,” said Mayor Rexlon Gatchalian.

In the first mission, Valenzuela sent a 50-member contingent that included five doctors, five nurses, 13 police officers and 14 rescuers, and brought 16,000 food packs and P1.3 million worth of medicines.

The first team reported that the homeless in Basey and Marabut could do nothing but walk all day to look for shelter, Gatchalian noted. In response to this observation, the second relief mission that was sent days later brought tarpaulin sheets and other construction materials for the setup of temporary shelters.

The second mission, this time involving 31 people, built two bunkhouses in Basey and Marabut, and distributed 2,000 sheets of tarpaulin in other areas.

The sheets and relief goods were donated by residents and civic groups in Valenzuela. The second relief mission also distributed an additional 2,400 food packs, 2,000 sets of mosquito nets, 9,850 packs of used clothes and 4,000 pairs of slippers.

The city government also donated P1 million to Western Samar’s rehabilitation efforts and a total of P16.9 million to

seven other provinces, five cities and 11 municipalities in Palawan province and the Visayas.—Jeannette I. Andrade and Nathaniel R. Melican