GOV'T ASSISTANCE. Guinobatan Mayor Paul Chino Garcia (red) receives from President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on Wednesday night (June 14, 2023) the initial government assistance that will be used for the emergency employment of evacuees through the Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged / Displaced Workers (TUPAD) of Department of Labor and Employment. A family member will be engaged in TUPAD for PHP10,950 within 30 days. (PNA photo by Connie Calipay)
LEGAZPI CITY – President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. assured the provincial government of Albay and affected local government units (LGUs) of quick help from different national government agencies amid the continuing unrest of the Mayon Volcano.
Marcos visited the province on Wednesday night to personally assess ongoing disaster operations amid Mayon Volcano's increasing activity that has sent 17,941 people to various evacuation centers in six towns and two cities.
"We will have to make up the difference for the continuing in terms of food, non-food items and all others that we have to make," Marcos said after Albay Governor Edcel Grex Lagman presented the capability of the PHP30 million quick response fund (QRF) that can only last for 14 days Mayon response.
Marcos said government agencies must prepare to cover 90 days of relief assistance to evacuees, which is the estimated maximum period of unrest of the volcano, to unburden a load of local government units (LGUs) responding to the disaster.
“Let us be prepared to take as much of the load as soon as possible off of the local government units para naman mayroon silang – malay natin magkabagyo pa, may mangyari pa, para mayroon silang reserba pa. Hindi natin uubusin ‘yung kanilang quick response fund (so that they would have reserve funds -- we'll never know, there might be a tropical cyclone. They need reserve funds. We will not use up all of their quick response funds)," Marcos said during a situation briefing on the Mayon Volcano unrest at the Albay Astrodome.
“Number two, we should use as a working number: a minimum of 45 days. The 45 days to 90 days come from both the science of DOST and the experience of the locals. Noong tinatanong natin sa kanila ‘usually papaano ito?’ Iyon na nga, 45 to 90 days. Kaya’t iyon ang gagamitin natin na working number (When they asked us 'usually, how is this done'? That's it, 45 to 90 days. That's the working number we would use,” he added.
Before the briefing in Albay, the President visited the Guinobatan Community College evacuation center to assess the condition of the affected families being housed there and also led the distribution of government assistance.
Relief assistance
In the same briefing, Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Secretary Rex Gatchalian said the agency is ready to assist those affected by the calamity.
"Given you said that we should prepare for 90 days cycle, it will require 153,00 family food packs (FFPs) of which it is already on the ground as well. It's in the store room in the DSWD field office 5, so ready to supply 153,000 FFPs," Gatchalian said.
He also said the agency is already preparing the assistance package requested by the provincial government of Albay for the evacuees.
"The assistance package that the provincial government has requested has already been processed. I spoke to the Governor, we agreed that they will furnish us with the list of beneficiaries and the timing as to when to start doing the financial assistance. So this would lessen the burden of the provincial government and the local government units in their cash requirement for the evacuees," Gatchalian said.
Livestock evacuation centers
Department of Agriculture Bicol regional executive director Rodel Tornilla said 30 livestock evacuation centers were established as temporary shelters for animals.
"We are providing drugs and biologics for our animals to ensure that our farm animals in evacuation centers are in good conditions," Tornilla said.
He said DA Bicol will establish Kadiwa ng Pangulo in areas near the evacuation centers."So they (evacuees) can buy affordable basic goods and commodities."
"We are also in the process of providing alternative livelihood for our evacuees like rabbit breading and vegetable planting in different evacuees centers to ensure that even though they are not in their farms there still have a livelihood. We are monitoring the situation in different areas," Tornilla said.
He said the DA-Bicol has a standby fund of PHP35.5 million for immediate rehabilitation of affected farmers once the situation gets back to normal.
Emergency employment
The Department of Labor and Employment in Bicol (DOLE-5) presented PHP49.5 million as initial assistance to the evacuees through emergency employment for the evacuees through the Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged / Displaced Workers (TUPAD).
"They will be engaged in TUPAD for the longest period of 30 days. The work program that they will be doing are community gardening, maintenance, cleanliness and housekeeping of evacuation site and also in food preparation, they will work with compensation for 30 days," DOLE-5 regional director Zenaida Angara-Campita said.
She said one family member will be engaged in TUPAD for a compensation of PHP10,950 for 30 days of work.
Health and sanitation
The Department of Health in Bicol (DOH-5) established health stations in evacuation centers to ensure the safety of evacuees in different evacuation centers.
"Delivered assorted medicines and facemasks in evacuation centers, we have implemented intensified surveillance system. We have 97 consultations in different evacuation centers. Conducted water quality monitoring of water sources," DOH-5 regional director Ernie Vera said.
Vera said PHP3.4 million basically assorted medicines, jerrycans, hygiene kits and facemasks were mobilized to the provincial health office in aid to the local government units affected by Mayon.
"We have requested PHP2.5 million to the central office that they already gave to us, and presently we are again requesting augmentation from the central office as preparation for possible increase of alert level," Vera said.
Learning modality
Department of Education in Bicol (DepEd) regional director Gilbert Sadsad said they divided a scheme on how the children evacuees continue their learnings.
"In the morning the original occupant of the school will do the classes, and in the afternoon the evacuees will do the classes, others were shifted to modular distance learning. During the vacation because we will have our closing on July 10-14, we will be having a learning camp where we will provide intervention and enrichment activity for those children in the evacuation centers," Sadsad explained to the president.
Sadsad said they will be using temporary learning shelters that will be set up in different evacuation centers to ensure the continuity of schooling of learners.
Marcos commended the response and coordination between the local government units and national government agencies.
"But I have to say maganda ang (the coordination is good between) coordination ng province, ng mga municipalities, and cities with national agencies let's keep that going. That will maximize the resources that we can apply to this problem, let's develop all ideas that we have talked about today so that implement them as soon as possible. In my mind I'm assuming that it is 45 days to 90 days so we have to plan ahead, wag na antin antayin maubos ang pera ng province, paghandaan na natin ( don't wait for the province's money to run out, let's prepare for this)," the President said.
After the briefing, the President awarded the initial PHP49.5 million DOLE's assistance to the different local chief executives that will be used for the TUPAD program.
Affected towns and cities include Daraga with 768 beneficiaries (PHP8.8 million); Camalig with 929 beneficiaries (PHP10.7 million); Guinobatan with 812 beneficiaries (PHP9.3 million); Tabaco City with 441 beneficiaries (PHP5 million); Malilipot with 900 beneficiaries (PHP10.4 million); Sto. Domingo with 379 beneficiaries (PHP4.3 million); and Ligao City with 57 beneficiaries (PHP658,000).
According to the report of the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) in Bicol Region, the DSWD, Philippine Red Cross, Ang Probinsyano Partylist, local government units (LGUs), private groups and non-government organizations have so far provided a total of PHP29.2 million worth of assistance to the evacuees.
The OCD also said it sent both food and non-food items, and water, sanitation and health (WASH) equipment to Albay province.
These relief items include 3,200 sacks of rice, 320 rolls of sakoline, 1,101 hygiene kits, 424 OCD family packs and one water filtration vehicle to be deployed by the provincial government to affected localities.
The OCD also reported that there are a total of 4,400 families or 15,676 individuals displaced by the disaster, mostly from Albay’s seven out of 18 municipalities and cities: Camalig, Ligao City, Daraga, Guinobatan, Malilipot, Santo Domingo, and Tabaco City.
Mayon Volcano is currently under Alert Level 3.
Of the total number of displaced families and individuals, 4,215 families or 15,017 persons have sought shelter in 22 evacuation centers, while 185 families or 659 persons are temporarily residing elsewhere, according to OCD.
It also said a total of 120 livestock such as carabaos, cattle and goats were moved to safer grounds from the danger zones in the municipalities of Daraga and Malilipot. (PNA)
