P531 million in total financial aid released to typhoon victims

CEBU, Philippines —  The Cebu City government has already distributed at least P531-million in financial assistance to residents, whose houses were damaged by typhoon Odette in December last year.

Earlier, Mayor Michael Rama vowed to provide P5,000 cash assistance to families affected by the typhoon.

The city’s Public Information Office (PIO) reported that 106,212 structure owners already received the P5,000 assistance. This means the city government already released P531,060,000 from the P576 million earmarked for the purpose.

Department of Social Welfare and Services (DSWS) head Portia Basmayor said that there are still around 40,000 homeowners that are yet to receive the financial aid because of the ongoing election ban imposed by the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

“Sa karon nagkuha pa man ta og exemption sa Comelec nga maka-proceed dayon ta sa pagpanghatag sa atong ayuda sa (bagyong) Odette,” said Basmayor.

Basmayor, however, assured that the processing of documents for those who have not yet been provided is ongoing, especially for those who were turned down due to complications such as mismatched names.

“Gi-continue lang namo. Then once moingon nga mo-go na, mo go na siya tanan, preparado na tanan,” she said.

Lawyer Gerry Carillo, chairperson for the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, already sent a letter to the Comelec head office to seek the needed exemption.

Carillo earlier said that the Comelec Central Visayas (Comelec-7) has given a “verbal” authority to proceed with the distribution of the financial assistance. However, to refrain from being flagged by the Commission on Audit (COA), they were also told to wait the issuance of a permit from their head office. — FPL (FREEMAN)