Relief work, clearing operations up in Metro

MANILA, Philippines - The Quezon City government has opened 11 one-stop assistance centers to provide food, medical and other material assistance to city residents affected by tropical storm Ondoy.

Mayor Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said the assistance centers, designed to accommodate more than 1,000 or more evacuees, are set up in Barangays Bagong Pag-asa, Masambong, Bahay-Toro, Bagong Silangan, North Fairview, Sta. Lucia, Gulod, Bagbag, Bagumbayan, Old Balara and Tatalon.

Belmonte ordered the setting up of the one-stop centers to consolidate all the relief efforts of the city government.

The city government has set aside P1 million for the procurement of medicines needed by the evacuees, which include among others, antibiotics, mefenamic acid, amoxicillin, multivitamins, analgesic and preparation for coughs and colds.

Belmonte earlier announced the re-allocation of some P 500 million for relief and rehabilitation of the affected areas in the city.

Doctors and nurses from the city health department are on standby to respond to the medical needs of the evacuees as fears for a possible outbreak of diseases may escalate. He also ordered the deployment of ambulances in each of the center to attend to evacuees during emergency situations.

Belmonte alerted the Quezon City General Hospital for the medical needs of the typhoon-affected families.  

Already, the city health department has administered tetanus toxoid vaccines to avoid infection among the evacuees.  

The city health department is coordinating with the Quezon City Red Cross for the provision of additional nurses.

Belmonte has already requested portable toilets for the use of the evacuees. The mayor also requested Maynilad and Manila Water to set up water tankers in each of the evacuation centers.

Social services development department chief Teresa Mariano said each evacuation center will be provided 20 drinking water jugs on a daily basis. Each center will also be provided with six heavy-duty stoves needed during food preparation.

Despite the opening of the 11 one-stop assistance centers, Mariano said the SSDD will continue to provide food assistance to families affected by Ondoy who were sheltered in temporary evacuation centers.

Additionally, the mayor has called on garbage contractors in the city to provide special trucks for the collection of flood debris. He enlisted the support of the city’s fire department in the cleanup of Quezon City roads. 

During a staff executive meeting, Belmonte called on the city’s 142 barangay executives to prepare an honest-to-goodness evaluation of individuals in their respective areas of jurisdiction who are occupying endangered or critical areas, such as esteros, creeks and other waterways.

The mayor said the city government would be making representations with concerned national government agencies to ensure the relocation of these families living in endangered areas to prevent further loss of lives during calamities, be it man-made or natural.

“Wag na natin payagang makabalik pa ang mga tao sa mga delikadong lugar para maiwasan ang pagbubuwis ng buhay,” Belmonte said.

The mayor also called on the city’s barangays to discourage people from throwing their debris on the waterways to prevent what might be “another disaster in the making.”

“What the city government is doing right now is giving the barangays self-help and assertion of their leadership,” Belmonte said.

AFP, volunteers join cleanup drive

As if trying to scrub off the traces of a disaster that brought so much devastation and grief to Metro Manila and nearby provinces, thousands of soldiers, policemen and civilian volunteers yesterday mounted on a massive clean up drive to clear villages of mud and debris that coated homes as well as public and private establishments.

As early as 6 a.m. yesterday, troops from all military camps in the nation’s capital gathered and armed themselves with brooms, shovels, pick mattocks and other cleaning tools to help the affected residents of Cainta, Rizal, Marikina, Pasig Manila and Pasay bring their lives to normal after the storm that has taken so many lives and properties.

They were all in high spirits, each one with a desire to reach out and help those much needing their reassuring presence.

All over the streets, the residents and the volunteers painstakingly scraped off thick mud that stinks, unclogged drainages and canals, and piled up trash and debris from collapsed structures.

Auto repair shops were filled to the brim with mud and flood-soaked cars for major repairs, while banks and pawnshops tried to salvage vital documents and commercial establishments attempted to save what remains of their equipment.

Homeowners, on the other hand, washed-off the stains on their clothes and furniture and dried their appliances that they so hardly worked for.

In Marikina, soldiers, reservists and Reserve Officer Training Corps cadets struggled to wash off the silt that engulfed the city hall, while some of them proceeded to help the residents of Provident Village, an affluent community that was severely hit by the raging floods.

It was a slow and agonizing process, tedious and painstaking, but everybody seemed to cling to a spark of hope that everything would return to normal in a few days time.

In Pasig City, the floodwaters have dried up, as if it has not, for a day, turned into a raging river.

Along the streets of the Marikina riverbanks, people lined up for a meager ration distributed by the government and several well-meaning groups, as heavy equipment and volunteers rushed to clear large tree branches in what used to be a park for its residents.

As of yesterday, the National Disaster Coordinating Council said tropical storm Ondoy which poured a record amount of rain last Saturday, has damaged more than P4.8 billion worth of infrastructure and crops.

Defense secretary and NDCC chair Gilberto Teodoro said the government would continue to provide relief goods to the affected residents with assistance from local and foreign donors.

Erap visits devastated areas

Former President Joseph Estrada yesterday visited a severely affected barangay in Quezon City and distributed relief goods and money, even promising scholarships to families of residents who had shown heroism during the flashfloods.

Estrada particularly had talks with the mother of Muelmar Magallanes, the teenager who saved a number of neighbors including an infant but died at the height of the flashfloods in Barangay Bagong Silangan.

“Mayroon kayong anak na bayani na maipagmamalaki ninyo,” Estrada told the mother, who was crying in appreciation for the former President’s gesture.

Estrada gave out bags of basic goods to residents of the village that was ravaged at the height of tropical storm Ondoy.

He also promised to help rebuild the desroyed houses of residents of Barangay Bagong Silangan.

Going around the coffins lined up at the covered village court, he gave out money to families of those who lost their loved ones.

“To those who showed heroism, we will provide scholarships to the siblings or children whom they left behind,” he said.

Senior Inspector Edgar Osam, community relations officer of the Quezon City Police District-Station 6, said some of the residents who did not lose their loved ones had started going back to the site of their residences, rebuilding their homes.

“However, there were some, who had expressed that if they had a choice, they would opt not to go back there,” Osam told The STAR.

Village council member Frank Tupas said almost half of the houses in Bagong Silangan were destroyed by the extreme flooding last weekend.

“Since 2002, we’ve been discouraging the residents not to build their houses there since the affected communities are low-lying and near a creek and considered a danger zone. But we couldn’t stop them,” Tupas told The STAR.

According to Tupas, some residents, particularly children, have started becoming ill with colds and fever. As such, the health center has been filled with people with the ongoing medical mission in the area.

NPC to help victims

The Nationalist People’s Coalition has reset its political gathering scheduled last Tuesday and has instead directed its members nationwide to actively participate in the relief and rehabilitation efforts in the wake of massive devastation caused by typhoon Ondoy.

NPC spokesman Rep. Rex Gatchalian of the 1st District of Valenzuela said the event was supposed to be one of the last steps before the party leadership finally chooses who between Senators Chiz Escudero and Loren Legarda will be their standard bearer in the May 2010 presidential elections.

Gatchalian pointed out that instead of going ahead with the meeting, the party has decided to donate the amount allotted for the activity to media organizations that are helping in the relief and rehabilitation efforts such as the Sagip Kapamilya of the ABS-CBN.

Makati to the rescue, too

The Makati City government dispatched yesterday relief goods to flood-stricken areas in Bulacan.

Makati City Mayor Jejomar Binay lauded the members of the Coca Cola Tigers basketball team for joining city government workers in packaging relief goods round-the-clock at the covered court of Barangay Valenzuela in the City.

Binay, president of the United Opposition (UNO), said the initial batch of delivery trucks that were dispatched at dawn carried 4,500 bags containing rice, canned goods and noodles, with 1,000 bags each for three municipalities in Bulacan, namely, Paombong, Angat and Hagonoy, and 500 bags for Provident Village in Marikina. “These have been turned over to the respective local governments of the intended recipients,” Binay said.

Binay said another 4,000 bags were set to be delivered to the municipality of Pateros and to three more municipalities of Bulacan – Meycauayan, Sta. Maria and Marilao.

For her part, Makati Social Welfare and Development chief and acting City Administrator Marjorie de Veyra said her office has been jointly working with the Liga ng mga Barangay in sourcing additional donations from the business community, non-government organizations and private individuals.

De Veyra said the relief operations center has received bags of rice and assorted foods, used clothes, blankets, shoes, and boxes of bottled water and juice from barangays San Lorenzo , Bel-Air, and Urdaneta. Meanwhile, the Coca-Cola Bottlers Corp. sent over 3,000 pieces of bottled water and softdrinks.

Binay is urging members of the business community and various civic-oriented organizations and individuals to send their donations to the city’s relief operations center at the Valenzuela Sports Complex, which is located at the corner of Hormiga and Tanay Streets. 

 He said those who wish to help may contact the center hotline, 357-9699 or the Liga office, headed by Councilor Romulo Peña Jr. at 870-1125.

Migrante in relief operations

Further, Migrante International will also hold its own relief and cleanup operations in Caloocan, Quezon City, Marikina and the province of Rizal which were seriously affected by the onslaught of tropical storm Ondoy.

Garry Martinez, chairman of Migrante, said they have also launched a campaign for relief dubbed as “Operation Sagip Migrante” generating resources abroad since last Saturday. Martinez said members of Migrante in Europe, Middle-East, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand and the US are now accumulating support in various ways and are in the process of sending them to Migrante’s national office in Quezon City.

Martinez, who resides in heavily affected Rizal, said although overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are particularly concerned with their own families, they also want to help the other Filipinos who suffered from the wrath of tropical storm Ondoy. – With Reinir Padua, Jose Rodel Clapano