Sorsogon Governor Francis "Chiz" Escudero (File photo)
LEGAZPI CITY – Sorsogon Governor Francis "Chiz" Escudero on Wednesday sent a team to clear roads of Albay, one of the Bicol provinces severely hit by Super Typhoon Rolly last Sunday.
The team, composed of members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines' (AFP) 903rd, 22nd, and 31st Infantry Division, Philippine National Police (PNP), the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) in Sorsogon, the Sorsogon Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office (SPDRRMO) and the Provincial Engineering Office (PEO), started their road clearing operations in Barangay Villa Hermosa which is at the borders of Sorsogon and Daraga. They will proceed to the town of Polangui in Albay.
“Although we were also hit, the damages are not on the scale of what our fellow Bicolanos in other provinces have suffered. Like a good neighbor, it is our duty to help them,” Escudero said in a statement.
The team also brought with them food packs which will be given to those who will help the team in their clearing operations in the Albay barangays.
The food packs are part of the "food for work" program of Sorsogon wherein individuals are given goods in exchange for their help in the clearing operations whenever a storm or typhoon hits the province.
The governor also said he would send teams to Catanduanes which bore the brunt of the super typhoon once ferry services resume.
“As soon as ferry services resume, we will also send a similar group to the one we sent in Albay who will also conduct clearing operations as well as operate water filtration devices to make potable water available to everyone,” Escudero said.
He said the team will also bring 1,500 sacks of rice which will be distributed to the affected families in Catanduanes.
“Kaunting tulong lamang ito para sa mga kapwa naming Bicolano para sama-sama at sabay-sabay kaming makabangon mula sa pinsalang dinulot ng bagyong Rolly sa ating rehiyon (This is just a little help for our fellow Bicolanos so that together, we can recover from the devastation caused by Typhoon Rolly in our region),” he said.
Meanwhile, at least 13 teams from electric cooperatives in Eastern Visayas are expected to arrive in Albay province anytime soon to help the Albay Power Energy Corporation (APEC) restore utility facilities damaged by “Rolly”.
Lesley Capus, APEC spokesperson, said one team coming from the Federation of Rural Electric Cooperatives (FRECOR) from Region 8 (Eastern Visayas) has arrived here on Wednesday.
He said FRECOR, APEC, and the Albay Electric Cooperative (Aleco) are members of the Philippine Rural Electric Cooperatives Association Inc. (Philreca) that are helping one another in the restoration and rehabilitation efforts of those that are in distress due to calamities, under the "Task Force Kapatid" program.
“These teams have volunteered to expedite the rehabilitation works of APEC so that electricity could be restored in a shorter period than without them helping,” Capus told the Philippine News Agency.
He said these teams would augment APEC’s personnel and volunteers in the clearing, repair, and restoration of utility lines, including wires, poles, conductors, and transformers.
“We direly need their technical assistance, otherwise it will take longer time to fix everything that Typhoon Quinta and Super Typhoon Rolly had destroyed when they whipped us one after the other,” Capus added.
He said replacement and restoration of the damaged facilities would cost APEC some PHP174.6 million.
He said they would replace APEC’s more than 24,000 damaged poles out of the over 32,000; 138 distribution transformers out of 1,270 units; and more than 971,000 meters of damaged primary lines. Line hardware, such as insulators and lightning arresters, would also be repaired amounting to PHP21.9 million.
Capus said APEC is appealing for any assistance that could help fast track its restoration efforts even from volunteer groups.
It took APEC a month and two weeks to restore electricity in Albay after Typhoon Tisoy pummeled the province on December 2 last year. (PNA)
