DAVAO CITY APPROVES P10 MILLION AID TO AREAS HIT BY USMAN

The Sangguniang Panlungsod on Thursday approved P10 million in assistance to Oriental Mindoro, Sorsogon, Albay, Camarines Sur, and Camarines Norte, which were severely affected by Tropical Depression “Usman.”

Each province will receive P1 million in cash assistance and relief goods that will be distributed to the affected families.

Newly-appointed City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (CDRRMO) chief Alfredo Baluran said that the budget will come from the 2019 Quick Response Fund (QRF) of the city.

“The P10 million will come from the QRF, P5 million of which will be in cash and the (recipient) local governments will decide on how they are going to use it. The remaining P5 million will be in the form of relief goods for those victims who are still in evacuation areas,” Baluran said.

The provinces of Sorsogon, Albay and Camarines Sur will receive relief goods worth P5 million.

Central 911 head Emmanuel Jaldon said that since there is difficulty in accessing Oriental Mindoro and Camarines Norte, the Davao City government will only send financial assistance to the said provinces and not relief goods anymore.

For 2019, Davao City has a total of P130.8 million in QRF, which can be used in times of disaster in the city and to aid other Local Government Units (LGUs) that are under state of calamity.

More than a million families were affected in the five provinces that will be helped by the city government.

Baluran said that this will be the first batch of recipient-LGUs that the city will help since other provinces are still under assessment.

“We cannot give assistance to those provinces that are not under state of calamity, we need to wait for them (to be declared as such). Rest assured, the city will help other areas that are also affected by the typhoon,” he said. CIO