Tomas: City isn’t sending help to typhoon victims in Biliran
The Cebu City Government will not send help to the Province of Biliran, where at least 26 people died and 23 others were reported missing following a landslide triggered by tropical storm Urduja.
In a news conference, Mayor Tomas Osmeña said the National Government is more than capable of covering the assistance, as the City is no longer in the position to mobilize aid.
Close to 20,000 families dis- placed in Naval, Biliran are asking neighboring local government units to send them potable water, the Office of the Presidential Assistant for the Visayas said in a statement.
“As the mayor of Cebu City, we’re going to use government funds. If we’re going to give something, it should be justifiable and not just to satisfy our sense of guilt. I feel that way too, but I don’t think we should act that way,” Osmeña said.
He said the National Government should put up a plant to purify water in the area for future disasters and emergencies.
City Hall, though, will extend assistance to farmers in the city whose crops were destroyed by Urduja.
In a separate interview, Assistant City Agriculturist Arleigh Gesta said that as of yesterday noon, the affected farmlands are in Barangay Adlaon, Taptap, Sudlon I and II, Pungol Sibugay, Sir- ao, Bonbon and Lusaran.
“As for assistance, our office still has inputs such as seedlings and other farming equipment we could readily distribute to our affected farmers. If the City will extend help, I suggest that it should be financial,” he told SunStar Cebu.
Gesta said they will call for a meeting tomorrow with farmer leaders in the barangays to discuss contingency measures for low pressure area Vinta.
In Capitol, the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office (PDRRMO) will inspect the preparedness of local government units (LGUs) in case more rains will come.
PDRRMO chief Baltazar Tribunalo said three response teams are in northern Cebu to distribute food packs from the Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office (PSWDO).
“We are now sending rice and canned goods to the islands in support of the LGUs,” Tribunalo said.
For security, personnel from the Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 are on standby following tropical storm Urduja.
PRO 7 Director Jose Espino said their search and rescue personnel are ready to respond.
After Urduja, another low pressure area has been monitored by Pagasa to enter the Philippine area of responsibility by Christmas.
“There was no untoward incident but the police are on standby to help the local government units,” Espino said.
He said the storm did not have any effect on the police stations. All police stations in the Central Visayas are alerted for any typhoon warning.
Cebu Provincial Police Office (CPPO) chief, Edgar Okubo, said that the situation in the northern part of Cebu is also normal.
“There were no reports but we are also on standby,” he said.