LEAD agencies spearheading the relief operations for earthquake victims in Davao Del Sur and Cotabato received an overwhelming influx of volunteers that they had to set a limit in the number of volunteers accepted.
Task Force Davao (TFD) Commander Consolito Yecla said since the packing of relief goods is done in their headquarters at the Sta. Ana Pier, they have been receiving a large number of walk-in volunteers from Davao City and neighboring areas.
Yecla also said TF Davao, the lead agency of the relief assistance, has been receiving outpouring donations from individuals and companies, who responded to the city’s call for donations to affected victims.
He said they packed an estimated number of 13,000 relief packs as of November 3, Sunday. He added that 4,000 of which were already sent to the Municipality of Makilala in Cotabato. It will be delivered to five highly devastated barangays identified by the Davao City Government.
“We have been receiving non-stop donations and volunteers over the weekend,” Yecla said, adding that they had to temporarily stop the repacking 3 a.m. on November 4 to rest due to the large number of donations that still needed to be repacked. The repacking also continued yesterday morning.
Office of the City Mayor staff Icey Romanda said they had to set a limit of 200 volunteers maximum at a time, including those from TF Davao, due to the inadequate space that could not cater to more volunteers. She said they were able to receive an estimated 600 volunteers since the call for volunteers started.
“Gadawat man gihapon mi og volunteers, pero dili mi maka-assure na maka-volunteer sila diretso specially inig hapon (We continue to accept volunteers, however, we cannot guarantee that they would be able to help immediately especially in the afternoon when the number of volunteer increases),” Romanda said.
However, she said volunteers are being referred to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in Minta, where a similar repacking operation is also being done.
Donations and volunteers are still accepted as there is no date set yet for the last day of acceptance.
She said the city has been doing this in different calamities that hit other neighboring cities and areas, though this is the first time that they are having the relief operation at TF Davao headquarter.
Meanwhile, Yecla said they were able to manage the relief operation despite also being on-call on November 1 and 2 for Undas.
“We were able to manage the relief operations and securing the city since we have our fellow auxiliary groups assigned in securing the city. We have the Davao City Police Office (DCPO), Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) and other security auxiliaries,” he said.