China extends aid to quake-hit Davao Sur school, Duterte’s alma mater

DAVAO CITY –– The Chinese government has donated one million renminbi (P7.2 million) to help the quake-hit alma matter of President Duterte in Digos City, Davao del Sur rise from the rubble.

Davao Consul General Li Lin handed the donation to Cor Jesu College, then Holy Cross Academy, where Duterte finished high school after he was expelled at the Jesuit-owned Ateneo de Davao University here due to misdemeanors.

One of the College’s buildings was among the structures that gave way to the series of powerful tremors last October.

“The overall reconstruction plan for the school requires huge (amount of money) because almost all academic buildings have been damaged. The contribution from the Chinese government and its people is just part (of the bigger reconstruction fund),” Lin told the Inquirer.

Li said it was fortunate the last two quakes on October 29 and 31 struck when the school was on a break.

“One thing we are very proud of is in terms of the immediate food relief and apart from financial aid, we are the first foreign responder to the earthquake victims in Davao del Sur,” he added.

Diplomatic relations between the Philippines and China have improved under the Duterte administration after the president pivoted to Beijing months after assuming power in 2016.

Beijing inaugurated the consular office in Davao City in October 2018 as part of such warming bilateral relations.

Li said the consular office is serving the entire Mindanao.

Earlier in November, the Davao Consulate General’s Office, the local Chinese Filipino community and Chinese firms extended P4 million worth of emergency relief assistance to Digos City and the municipalities of Bansalan and Magsaysay, also in Davao del Sur.

The consular office distributed 8,000 relief packs to the quake victims.

In sum, the Davao Consulate General’s Office and its partners extended at least P11 million worth of assistance to quake victims in Davao del Sur.

The consulate focused its assistance to Davao del Sur since most of the donations have been directed to Cotabato province.

Separately, the Chinese embassy in Manila extended another three million renminbi (about P22 million) for disaster relief operations for the quake victims in Mindanao last month.

In October, a series of powerful quakes jolted central Mindanao, with epicenters in Cotabato province, a neighbor of Davao del Sur./lzb