Lumber, kitchen ware, food donated for Yolanda survivors

SEIZED lumber, kitchen ware, food and even massage training sessions were donated by the regional Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and private companies to Yolanda victims in Cebu yesterday.

Regional DENR Executive Director Isabel Montejo said they donated over 170 pieces of seized lumber worth P192,000 to the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) to be used by displaced fisherfolk in building their boats.

The logs were deposited at DENR’s Community Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO) in the Pier 3 area, were to be disposed through donation after an inventory by the Forest Management Services (FMS) Office.

Regional Director Andres Bojos of the BFAR said they plan to build 10,000 boats for 20,000 fisherfolk families in northern Cebu in the next six months.

“By mid or end of January we will already start distribution of around 15-20 boats,” he said.

At the tent city in the South Road Properties (SRP), lawyer Jocelyn Pesquera of the SRP Family Rehabilitation Center said business process outsourcing company Convergys donated kitchen ware, pails and packed lunches to Yolanda survivors.

“The United Nations (UN) World Food Program also gave one sack of rice for every family,” Pesquera said.

She said a multicab shuttles from the SRP to Cebu City Hall and vice versa at regular intervals between 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Pesquera also said Body and Sole, a well-known massage parlor company,  volunteered to conduct training sessions for interested tent city occupants.

The first batch consisting of 10 persons will be scheduled for training within the month. Rosary-making is also being considered.

The SRP’s tent city houses 55 families or 196 survivors of last year’s supertyphoon Yolanda from Tacloban City and other affected areas of Central Philippines. / Correspondents Jose Santino S. Bunachita and Bjorn Abraham Tabanera