Firms quarrying Pinatubo sand give P300,000 to Taal eruption victims

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO–Small firms quarrying the sand spewed by Mt. Pinatubo’s 1991 eruption donated P300,000 to victims of the recent eruption of Taal volcano.

Joey Figueroa, president of the Federation of Small Scale Quarry Operators of Pampanga, on Monday handed the check to Pampanga Gov. Dennis Pineda at the capitol building.

The check is paid to the province of Batangas.

The federation, founded in 2008, has 50 members trading the sand to haulers who sell to the construction sector. Tax and administrative fee collected by the provincial government since 2010 have reached more than P2.1 billion.

Pineda said he would turn over the check to Batangas Gov. Dodo Mandanas within the week when he would bring the third wave of
assistance there.

The provincial government had distributed relief packs to 27,792 families from the Batangas towns of Bauan, San Pascual, Malvar, Mataas na Kahoy, Tanauan, San Luis, Ibaan, Rosario, Padre Garcia, Taysan, San Pascual, Sto. Tomas, Mabini and San Jose, according to a report of the provincial disaster risk reduction and management council.

It gave out more than P8 million worth of goods from private donors.

Medical missions from Kapampangan volunteers also served 2,099 people and handed out 55,750 medicines.

Pineda had said the help to Batangas was a form of “payback” by the Kapampangans who survived and rose above the Pinatubo disaster through the kindness of many people and groups.

Edited by TSB