The Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office will release on Wednesday, Dec. 20, P10 million for the victims of Tropical Storm “Urduja,” which hit several provinces in the Visayas.
On Tuesday, PCSO General Manager Alexander Balutan said PCSO would initially release the amount from the agency’s yearly calamity funds to buy medicines and water.
“We have a yearly calamity fund of P100 million approved by the Department of Budget and Management for natural and man-made disasters,” he said. “For 2017, we have more than P95 million left. We can use that for the typhoon victims.”
The processing and other details of the donations will be discussed Wednesday, according to PCSO Chairman Jose Jorge Corpuz.
As of this writing, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council reported that around 40 people had died and 24 people were missing because of the storm.
PCSO said the provinces badly hit by landslides and flash floods were Samar, Leyte, and Biliran, which had the most number of deaths and missing persons.
Apart from the donations, Balutan said he would recommend to the PCSO board to allot a portion of its budget for the Yuletide fellowship of employees to buy more medicines and water. At the same time, it would cover the hospitalization expenses of those injured in the storm.
“We immediately come to the aid of calamity victims and this is our priority as a charitable government agency,” Balutan added.
He said the PCSO offices would be open 24/7 for those who need financial or medical assistance.
These offices are in the following areas:
- Biliran
- Tacloban City, Leyte
- Calbayog City in Western Samar
- Maasin City, Southern Leyte
- Catarman, Northern Samar
“I have instructed all our branches in the typhoon-affected provinces to open their offices 24 hours a day to cater patients and deliver medical services to the affected residents,” Balutan said. “[This is the] same instruction I gave to all other branch offices in the Visayas to come to the aid of calamity victims.” /atm