Volcano
WHAT ERUPTION? Farmers continue with their daily routine in Ligao City as Mayon volcano looms in the background. —NIÑO JESUS ORBETA
Help flowed out for residents of communities displaced by lava flow and explosions by Mt. Mayon as volcanologists continued to hoist alert level 4 in areas in harm’s way.
In Subic, a Customs official said a seized shipment of Thai rice, worth some P10 million, would be donated to Mayon evacuees as soon as it was approved by the Department of Finance.
The shipment was seized for lacking import permit. The Philippine International Trading Corp., listed as its consignee, had disowned the shipment.
“It happened in the past. Even without an auction, it can be disposed of through donation,” said Fidel Villanueva IV, Subic port Customs collector.
Cash-for-work
The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is offering a cash-for-work program that could pay each evacuee P2,900 for 10 days of work.
The DSWD, through its Bicol regional office, entered into an agreement with local governments in Albay province, worst hit by Mayon’s unrest, for a cash-for-work program.
Under the agreement, each beneficiary would receive P290 per day for 10 days of work this month. The work would be based on the needs of evacuees.
Tents
Program funds would be transferred to local government units that would implement the program, the DSWD said.
It said more than 19,000 families were still living in evacuation centers as of Friday.
The Turkish Red Crescent Society had donated five inflatable tents to serve as temporary classrooms for children of the evacuees.
The tents were turned over to Philippine Red Cross (PRC) on Thursday.
The 56 square meter tents, which could be put up in less than 30 minutes, could accommodate 45 students. Tents were planned in the towns of Camalig, Malilipot and Guinobatan in Albay.
“Learning must never stop,” the PRC said in a statement quoting its chair, Sen. Richard Gordon.
PRC is also building latrines in evacuation centers.
PCSO funds
The Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO), which had already chipped in P5 million, is adding P30 million more for the evacuees. The money would come from the agency’s calamity funds.
On Friday, PCSO chair Anselmo Simeon Pinili said the donations were in response to Mr. Duterte’s request for more help.
The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) is building 333 temporary toilets with bathing facilities for the Mayon evacuees.
Toilets
Danilo Versola, DPWH director for Bicol, said the construction of toilets would address the need for hygiene and sanitation in evacuation centers.
The DPWH would manage operations of nine public schools and relocation centers.
The government was also setting up temporary learning spaces (TLS) in the evacuation sites, according to the head of a management crisis team created for the Mayon evacuees.
The team leader, Francis Tolentino, said the DPWH and Department of Education were coordinating for the setting up of TLS for evacuees’ children.
He said TLS were necessary to keep children from skipping their lessons.
Classes in at least 70 schools in Albay were disrupted, he added.
Some students and teachers, however, had already been coping with the help of TLS.
The temporary classrooms were already being built in Sto. Domingo and Guinobatan towns, according to Maria Cristina Baroso, Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office coordinator. –Reports from Jodee A. Agoncillo, Jhesset Enano, Julie M. Aurelio, Michael Jaucian, Rey Anthony Ostria, Allan Macatuno and Yolanda Sotelo