PRESIDENT Benigno Aquino III flew on Sunday to typhoon-ravaged provinces of Eastern Samar and Leyte to personally see the ongoing relief operations for the affected population.
Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma did not say in an interview over dzRB Radyo ng Bayan until when the President would be staying in Visayas region.
"Nasa pagpapasya na po ng Pangulo ‘yan, at gagawin po niya ang nararapat sa panahong pinakamainam po ayon sa pangangailangan, at magbibigay naman po tayo ng periodic media advisory hinggil diyan," he said.
House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. and some members of the Cabinet accompanied the President in his visit to Guiuan, Eastern Samar and Tacloban City.
Meanwhile, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has already started its “Food-for-Work” program in Tacloban, which was one of the hard-hit areas by super typhoon "Yolanda" last week.
DSWD Secretary Corazon Soliman issued the statement during a meeting with the concerned government agencies involved in the relief and recovery efforts in Tacloban.
“We’ve also started the food-for-work in conjunction with the City of Tacloban, and that means we will be able to cleanup a significant portion of the astrodome, which is the biggest evacuation center so far,” she said.
Soliman said that her agency will continue to do the said program for the rest of the coming days. She said that they have already designated three hubs—Tacloban, Guiuan, and Ormoc—for the distribution of the relief goods.
She said that so far, the government has distributed a total of 430,435 food and rice packs, as well as water and high-energy biscuits, to the areas affected by Typhoon Yolanda.
The DSWD secretary said that in Tacloban alone, they have served a total of 114 out of 138 barangays in the city. “We still have to serve 24, which we will do today,” she added.
In Leyte, Soliman said, the government has reached all 40 municipalities. “And that means in Leyte, we have served all. And in Eastern Samar, we have served nine municipalities,” she said.
She pointed out that they have already started providing tents and tarpaulins for the evacuations centers. In addition to the tents, she said that the agency will also be bringing in other non-food items within the day. (SDR/Sunnex)