City gives P2M to Surigao town; Capitol delivers P1M to Ormoc
Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña signed yesterday the deed of donation for the P2 million financial assistance and ambulance the city government will donate to the earthquake-hit municipality of San Francisco in Surigao del Norte.
Meanwhile, a delegation from the Cebu provincial government is also expected to hand over P1 million in financial aid to Ormoc City today after the city incurred damages from a magnitude 6.5 earthquake last July.
Cebu Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO) head Baltazar Tribunalo will lead the team that will visit the city today. From Ormoc, the team will head to Biliran province to help assess the damage wrought by tropical storm Urduja.
In particular, Tribunalo said his team will focus on checking Biliran’s water supply after it was reported that the typhoon damaged the pipelines.
Tribunalo said he believes there was complacency and poor analysis of the risks and hazards on the part of the Biliran disaster team before Urduja hit.
“Kung moingon gani ta og kulang sa pag-analisar, sipyat gyud na sa local government unit,” Tribunalo said.
He said people should be prepared for disasters at all times, especially after the country’s experience with super typhoon Yolanda in 2013 where thousands were killed and left homeless. “Pero wa pa gihapon ta nagkat-on,” Tribunalo said. For his part, Cebu Governor Hilario Davide III also expressed willingness to help Biliran. But for now, the provincial government will first attend to the needs of the local government units in northern Cebu that were placed under a state of calamity.
Back at the Cebu City Hall, Osmeña yesterday said the city’s aid to San Francisco will be a big help to the town.
San Francisco Mayor Guia Plaza-Sabanal, who was at the Cebu City Hall during the signing yesterday, said the financial assistance will be used to repair their municipal gym that was damaged during the earthquake. The repair is estimated to cost about P5 million.
“Ang na-damage man gyud ang amoang gym. So portion lang ang among naayo, so ang part of that ang P2 million maoy among gamiton para pag-improve sa amoang municipal gym,” Sabanal said.
Sabanal was accompanied by three members of the municipal council and an officer from the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (MDRRMO) of San Francisco.
“We’re very excited of the donation kay dako gyud kay na nga part nga tabang sa among lungsod. So excited gyud kay mi nga modawat. Kay being a 5th-class municipality, dependent lang mi sa among IRA (Internal Revenue Allotment). Dako na kay na nga itabang gyud sa amoa,” she said.
She said the ambulance will also be a help to them since they are only currently using an L300 vehicle to transport patients for a seven-hour drive from San Francisco to public hospitals in Davao.
“Kay naingnan man namo si mayor nga wala gyud mi ambulance. Kay kanang mga pasyente nga dili na bitaw makaafford sa private hospital, amo nang idala sa Davao. Kay ang Davao libre tanan sa ilang government hospitals. Lisod gyud kaayo kung ang sakyan kay L300 lang. So with the ambulance, arang kaayo kadako nga tabang na gyud sa amo,” Sabanal added.