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Thursday, December 09, 2004
Government: Relief, rehab efforts to continue
MANILA -- Relief and rehabilitation efforts would not relent until all families affected by back-to-back storms that hit the country recently could get back on their feet, President Arroyo's spokesman said Wednesday.
Nevertheless, presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye said the government acknowledges the "serious challenges" it is facing to be able to achieve its goal.
The struggle to clear piles of mud and logs to deliver aid to villages worst hit by the storms received a major boost from the US military, which began dispatching 600 troops and transport helicopters.
The storms last week left at least 740 people dead and 754 missing, the Office of Civil Defense reported.
Damaged roads and bridges were hampering relief efforts, and the hardest-hit town of Real in Quezon was accessible only by boats and helicopters.
Bunye said the rehabilitation of the country's denuded forests, blamed for the landslides and flashfloods that caused the devastation, "was a matter for the national and local government to thresh out in the spirit of equity and common interest" and that everybody must share in the burden in the long run.
"This is strategic issue of national survival that will require the active participation of every citizen in the community. Our new found solidarity to help the victims of the calamity must also rekindle our sense of awareness and concern for the environment as an investment in our future," he added.
US forces
To help in relief efforts, about 40 marines from the 3rd US Marine Expeditionary Force based on the Japanese island of Okinawa landed overnight in Clark Air Base, where US and Filipino authorities set up a base of operations, U.S. military spokesman Capt. Dennis Williams said.
Hundreds more Marines and sailors, most of them maintenance, medical and support personnel, were en route from Okinawa on board C-130 transport aircraft, helicopters and a U.S. ship, Williams said.
US forces "will remain only as long as necessary for the Philippines to conduct sustained disaster relief operations," a Pentagon statement in Washington said, adding that the troops will also provide potable water, medicine, tents, blankets and generators.
"This is a serious endeavor. The safety and well-being of the Filipinos are a top priority and we're responding as best we can in as speedy and effective way," Williams said, adding it will take a few days for US forces to assemble and coordinate with Philippine authorities.
Philippine Air Force spokesman Lt. Col. Restituto Padilla said about six US transport helicopters could be in the air as early as Thursday.
"We have warehouses full of goods that need to be transported," he said.
Main needs
Most of the destruction was wrought by a tropical storm that blew through northeastern provinces Nov. 29. Typhoon Yoyong (international codename: Nanmadol) struck the same region three days later.
Real Mayor Arsenio Ramallosa said the town main needs are food, water and medicine as well as tents and tarpaulins for shelter.
But he added that relief supplies were flowing into the city, replenishing items that had run out.
He said workers clearing roads that were blocked by landslides were slowly making their way to Real, but that he was told by engineers that large boulders may have to be blasted with explosives.
He said at least 250 people have been counted dead in Real, but that dozens more bodies were buried in a building that collapsed under a mudslide.
Damage to agriculture, fisheries and infrastructure across the region was estimated at P3.12 billion.
Many government agencies, among them the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Armed Forces and the Department of National Defense (DND) were doing away with their Christmas parties and will just donate the funds intended for the activity to landslide and flood victims.
Power restored
Energy officials, on the other hand, said they were working round the clock to restore electricity to calamity-affected areas before Christmas.
Energy Secretary Vicente Perez said in a briefing at the Office of the Civil Defense (OCD) headquarters in Camp Aguinaldo that power could be expected to return in seven days in the municipalities of Nagtipunan and san Agustin in Quirino, in Roxas in Oriental Mindoro and nine other towns in Ifugao.
A total of nine towns in Kalinga and Apayao and six in Cagayan may have power soon as repairs on a National Transmission Corporation (Transco) line were almost completed while eight municipalities in Nueva Vizcaya may have electricity in two weeks.
Perez, in his report to President Arroyo during the joint National Security Council (NSC)-National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) meeting, said several electric cooperatives are now supporting the National Electrification Administration (NEA) and Transco in the rehabilitation efforts.
He said the total cost of power restoration and rehabilitation in the affected areas would cost about P65 million.
He added that said power has already been fully restored in Dingalan in Aurora; in Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, La Union and Pangasinan in Region I; Batanes ad Isabela in Region II and Abra, Benguet and Mountain Province in the Cordillera Administrative Region.
Power has also been fully restored in Bataan, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, Zambales and Tarlac in Region III; Laguna, Batangas, Marinduque, Romblon, Palawan and Occidental Mindoro in Region IV; and Camarines Sur, Camarines Norte, Albay, Sorsogon, Catanduanes and Masbate in Region V.
More donations
Arroyo, during the meeting, instructed the Department of Education (DepEd), Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) to start looking for alternative evacuation areas to avoid further interrupting classes in the calamity-affected areas.
Defense Secretary Avelino Cruz Jr. said Arroyo also wants all the schools and churches used as temporary shelter to be checked and assessed for damages and soundness to ensure public safety.
Cruz said they expect at least 30,000 core shelters and houses to be rebuilt and reconstructed starting December 16.
He appealed for more donations from the private sector, the UN, other foreign groups and government to ensure continued assistance to the victims and the rehabilitation of the affected areas.
He said at least P53.6 million from the NDCC, the DSWD and the local government units had already been released while donations collected through Oplan: Sagip Buhay have reached P36.5 million.
Arroyo, in opening the Cabinet meeting, said she is earmarking P500 million to finance the reconstruction and rehabilitation of the calamity-struck areas and institutionalize reforms in the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa).
Part of the fund would also finance the campaign against illegal logging and government's reforestation program. (JMR/AP)
(December 9, 2004 issue)
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