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Tuesday, December 07, 2004
DSWD needs more funds to help flood, landslide victims
* Dinky says 718 missing persons are presumed dead
THE Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is seeking P50 million to P70 million for its relief operations for the victims of floods and landslides in Quezon and Aurora.
Social Welfare Secretary Dinky Soliman asked for the help of the Senate committee on finance to look for sources of funds.
This, as Soliman said the more than 700 people who were still missing after the natural calamities that struck the two eastern Luzon provinces at the height of four storms that hit the country the past three weeks are presumed dead already.
During budget deliberations Monday, Soliman said the agency is already cash-strapped as P87 million allocated as quick response funds have already been depleted.
"When I said gone, naubos na (it is gone). Yun pong nasalanta naman ay tuloy-tuloy ang kailangang paghahatid ng pagkain (But we continue to serve food to those affected," Soliman said.
Soliman said at present, the DSWD has collected P32 million worth of relief goods and used clothing from private groups to be distributed to affected families in Quezon and Aurora provinces.
On the part of the Senate, Sen. Manuel Villar, chairman of the Senate finance committee, told Soliman to talk to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) about diverting funds for relief operations.
Villar suggested that funds of other government agencies should be diverted to relief operations.
Aside from relief operations, Villar said the government also needs money to rehabilitate public infrastructure destroyed by the flood, landslides and recent storms that hit the country.
Meanwhile, Soliman said based on their latest count, there were 628 people confirmed dead and 718 still missing in the aftermath of storms Unding, Violeta, Winnie and Yoyong. "I think this is why, 90 percent ang chance na yung 718 ay patay na rin (there is 90 percent chance that the 718 are already dead)," Soliman said.
Soliman also said the President has already instructed the local governments of affected areas like in Aurora and Quezon to immediately bury those found dead to avoid the possibility of any disease outbreaks.
"Part of our problem is we were not able to account fully in far-flung barangay na hindi maabot, ang instruction is ilibing na rin doon (that we cannot reach, so that the instruction is to bury them right then and there), because there is no way of embalming and we don't want to start another problem by the issue of sanitation," she said. (JPM)
(December 7, 2004 issue)
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