THE Cebu Provincial Government will donate P1 million for the earthquake victims of Surigao City.
Baltazar Tribunalo, Jr., head of the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office (PDRRMO), said the donation will come from the disaster budget.
After a state of calamity has been declared in Surigao City, Tribunalo said Davide informed them of the plan of the Provincial Government to give financial aid to the city.
A magnitude 6.7 earthquake struck Surigao City last Friday night.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said there was no tsunami alert, but houses, commercial buildings, roads and a bridge were damaged.
Meanwhile, the Mandaue City Government will also extend P100,000 to Surigao City.
City Mayor Gabriel Luis Quisumbing and Vice Mayor Carlo Fortuna have agreed to give the cash aid.
“The City of Mandaue condoles with our brothers and sisters in Surigao City and we are with you as you begin the road to recovery. Vice Mayor Carlo and I have agreed to send financial assistance as our small gesture of solidarity for their reconstruction effort,” said Quisumbing in his Facebook post.
Lawyer Mae Elaine Bathan, chief-of-staff of the city mayor, said the City Council will approve a resolution authorizing Quisumbing to release assistance, which will be taken from the city’s calamity funds.
The approval of the resolution will be tackled during the regular session tomorrow (Wednesday).
“From a local government unit to another we feel that we should be supporting each other in every little way we can,” Bathan said.
Last November 2013, the City Government under the administration of former mayor and now congressman Jonas Cortes also provided financial aid to some towns in northern Cebu that were devastated by typhoon Yolanda.
In Cebu City, Acting Mayor Edgardo Labella will also recommend the giving of P500,000 financial assistance.
Labella said it will be up to Mayor Tomas Osmeña, who was expected to be back in the city yesterday afternoon from his official trip to Taiwan, to decide what other assistance the City can extend.
Labella said it will be up to Osmeña to decrease or increase it.
In a text message sent to SunStar Cebu, Osmeña said the City will be giving whatever is needed in Surigao.
Osmeña said he will send Nagiel Bañacia, chief of the Cebu City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office to Surigao to conduct post-disaster need assessment there.
Bañacia’s report will be the basis for whatever help the City will be extending to the quake survivors.
For his part, Councilor Jerry Guardo is also planning to visit some parts of Surigao within this week to personally check the extent of damage there and recommend what help the City can give.
Guardo, who chairs the committee on infrastructure said the City’s assistance to Surigao must be specific to address their needs. Jona Godinez, USJR Intern