AID FOR TAAL VOLCANO VICTIMS. Ormoc City Mayor Richard Gomez (right) hands a PHP3-million check to Taal, Batangas Mayor Fulgencio Mercado (left) as assistance to victims of volcanic eruption. Ormoc City also provided the same amount to Tagaytay City. (Photo courtesy of Ormoc City government)
TACLOBAN CITY -- The Ormoc City government turned over on Sunday the PHP6-million cash assistance to the victims of Taal Volcano eruption.
Ormoc City Mayor Richard Gomez and wife, Leyte 4th District Representative Lucy Torres-Gomez, and other key city officials personally handed the donation to the mayors of badly-affected areas.
The city government has turned over PHP3 million each to Tagaytay City and Taal, Batangas town. Mayor Agnes Tolentino and husband, Rep. Abraham Tolentino, received the aid for Tagaytay while Mayor Fulgencio Mercado got the donation for the Taal victims.
“We hope that this amount can help even in a little way the affected population of Taal eruption. Our city has faced many challenges and disasters and many came to help us. This is our way of giving back,” Gomez said in a social media post on Monday.
The Ormoc City council approved on January 21 a resolution providing cash assistance to the Taal Volcano eruption victims.
The eruption has displaced 1,001 individuals in Taal, and 8,154 individuals in Tagaytay City.
Meanwhile, members of the Navara Nation Philippines-Eastern Visayas “Angels on Wheels” drove to Batangas from Tacloban City to personally distribute relief assistance to the volcanic eruption victims on Sunday.
The group distributed food and clothing to more than 800 evacuees at the San Antonio Elementary School in San Pascual town, said Rhoel Ladera, one of the organizers.
“Our arrival was timely because the relief goods given to the evacuees almost run out,” Ladera said in a phone interview.
Among the relief items they brought were goods given by the city residents to the office of Vice Mayor Jerry Yaokasin.
The newly crowned Miss Sinulog Festival Queen 2020, Monika Johnson Afable, a native of Borongan City, Eastern Samar, also announced her plan to help volcanic eruption victims.
Afable said she will be selling a shirt with her portrait taken during the street parade of Sinulog Festival in Cebu City.
"This is a simple way of reaching out to help those who are in need. There are thousands of victims who would benefit and whose situations would be made better by this fundraising activity," Afable said in a social media post.
Each shirt costs PHP300, with PHP20 of the amount is intended for Taal victims. Printed shirts will be posted online for orders. (PNA)
