Friday, August 11, 2006
Palace seeks truce with communist rebels in Albay
MANILA -- Malacañang on Thursday asked the New People's Army (NPA) to allow relief goods to reach evacuees and not to harass soldiers who are helping in the evacuation efforts in areas around Mayon Volcano.
"O, huwag naman guluhin ng NPA ang tren (I hope the NPA doesn't block the train)," Arroyo said as she sent off disaster officials and a trainload of relief goods from the Philippine National Railways (PNR) terminal in Buendia, Makati City.
Customs Commissioner Napoleon Morales said the relief goods include some 150 metric tons of used clothing from the US and 40,800 cans of luncheon meat, which the Bureau of Customs (BOC) had seized after they were misdeclared. The goods were valued at around P10 million.
Transportation Secretary Leandro Mendoza said the train would be in Legazpi City, Albay in 12 hours, adding that trains were the most practical means of transporting the goods. He said the train could also transport those who want to evacuate to Manila.
Arroyo said she has ordered the construction of pre-fabricated houses with toilets near evacuation centers to accommodate more residents.
The President will visit Albay on Saturday to check on the needs of the evacuees.
Presidential chief of staff Michael Defensor, meanwhile, condemned "in strongest terms" the NPA attack on the military in Daraga and expressed hope the rebels will stop harassing soldiers and policemen in the middle of evacuation efforts.
He said he expected the NPA to observe in Albay the same kind of de facto ceasefire observed in Sorsogon when Bulusan volcano expelled ash.
Defensor also said he and House Minority Leader Francis Escudero (Sorsogon) have agreed to stop political debates while the evacuations in Lebanon and in Albay are ongoing. He said they will also raise, in their private capacity, funds for the families of those affected by the impending Mayon eruption.
Meanwhile, many of the Mayon evacuees are suffering from respiratory infection, asthma, hypertension, and trauma, the Department of Health (DOH) reported on Thursday.
Health authorities are also monitoring cases of diarrhea, cholera, dengue and fever among the evacuees.
The DOH Center for Health Development (CHD) in Bicol and the Provincial Health Office (PHO) of Albay said they recorded 52 cases of respiratory infection, five asthma cases, and two cases of hypertension and trauma.
Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said although the diseases are still manageable, there is a need to identify new evacuation centers to decongest the already crowded centers in the towns of Camalig, Daraga, Guinobatan, Malilipot, and Sto. Domingo and cities of Legaspi, Tabaco, and Ligao.
"With the imminent explosion of Mayon Volcano, the DOH is mobilizing more health teams and augmenting medicines and other emergency supplies," he said.
Duque said composite teams are also conducting daily disease surveillance and rapid assessment surveys, facilitating the delivery of supplies and stress debriefing among evacuees.
Likewise, he said they are coordinating with the local government units (LGUs) in the region to provide safe drinking water in evacuation sites, give adequate lighting in classrooms, augment supplies and medical teams, provide immunization services as needed, and conduct fumigation in selected evacuation centers.
"We are prepared anytime to scale up our response and this will be done in close coordination with all LGUs and other agencies," he said.
The DOH is also assisting LGUs to identify areas for cooking, washing, bathing, and garbage disposal in all evacuation camps. It is also holding an information and education campaign on the use of sanitary toilets.
There are about 40,000 persons who were evacuated by the military since Wednesday. They had been residing within the outskirts of the rumbling Mt. Mayon. (JMR/MSN/Sunnex)
(August 11, 2006 issue)
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