City Council places sitio Lawis, Mambaling under state of calamity

CEBU, Philippines —  The Cebu City Council has placed Sitio Lawis in Barangay Mambaling under a “state of calamity” following the fire incident last Friday.

A special session was led by Vice Mayor Donaldo Hontiveros yesterday via Zoom.

The calamity state was approved by the City Council yesterday, but the charging of funds for the assistance of the fire victims will still have to be discussed in the regular session tomorrow (Wednesday) yet.

Atty. Gerry Carillo, chairman of the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, explained that the city can declare such through the City Council based on the provisions of the Republic Act 10121 otherwise known as the Philippine Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act of 2010.

“Under the Philippine Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act of 2010, we can declare a state of calamity if 20% of a certain sitio and a certain barangay is affected and the resources of which we are going to provide and even the area. In this case, more than three thousand individuals are involved and I think, as the last count of the DSW, there are 670 families affected so that is the reason why it has been raised into a ‘state of calamity,’” said Carillo.

Councilors Nestor Archival and Franklin Ong stressed that along with this declaration, a document/ record to support such a claim should also be provided to the City Council.

Even without the said record at hand, however, Councilor Eduardo Rama Jr. who is pushing for the said resolution maintained that they are acting on the recommendation from the CDRRMC.

Councilor Alvin Dizon also moved for the Office of the Mayor to ask for support from various national agencies via the calamity quick disaster funds.

The City Council has declared Sitio Lawis under the state of calamity ahead of the Barangay Council of Mambaling itself.

Carillo bared that Barangay Mambaling was not able to do such on Saturday due to lack of quorum. The Barangay Council is also set to do a separate declaration for them to be able to utilize their own funds for the fire victims. — GMR (FREEMAN)