Church aid group to boost relief work in Bohol

Residents queue up under the rain to receive relief supplies at quake-hit Sagbayan town, Bohol province. AP FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—The social arm of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines said Friday it would be able to sustain its relief operations in quake-ravaged Bohol for at least two more months as Caritas Internationalis has approved its application for P14.2 million in additional funding.

Fr. Edu Gariguez, executive secretary of the CBCP’s National Secretariat for Social Action (Nassa), said that with the funding, the Church body would be able to boost its  relief efforts particularly in five towns hardest hit by the 7.2-magnitude earthquake that shook the island province on October 15.

He identified these towns as Maribojoc; Inabanga, where a fault line was just discovered; Carmen;  Danao; and Sagbayan, which has been identified as the epicenter of the quake.

He also noted that relief efforts were focused in these towns because many affected residents have yet to receive sufficient help.

“With assistance from Caritas Internationalis, Nassa immediately launched the emergency response to Bohol with the approved financial support of P14.2 million for the two-month relief operation,” said Gariguez, who is also the  director of Caritas Philippines.

The money will be used to provide shelter materials, food and non-food items to 21,759 families in the hardest hit and least served barangays , the priest added.

“Nassa will lead the response and manage the overall coordination of the project while the diocesan social action centers of the Dioceses of Tagbilaran and Talibon will implement the interventions in municipalities under their jurisdictions,” said Gariguez.

Based on its assessment of the situation in Bohol, Nassa reported that the families who lost their homes  were crammed  in evacuation centers and lacked access to potable water and sanitation facilities.

“The main priority at the moment, as families are slowly coping up from their trauma, is to provide temporary shelters while making ends meet. The affected communities now have to deal with the challenges of having to rebuild their lives in the face of great loss both in lives and resources,” it reported.

Meanwhile, Tagbilaran Bishop Leonardo Medroso welcomed the decision of the Commission on Elections to postpone the Oct. 28 barangay elections in Bohol.

“The great calamity that devastated Bohol… so reduced the people to survival that to engage in politics like an election is improper to say the least,” Medroso told reporters on Friday.