DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/12 November) — The city council yesterday approved the release of P8 million from the city’s calamity funds for areas in the Leyte provinces hit by super typhoon “Yolanda”.
( Mayor Rodrigo Duterte after visiting Leyte.Video courtesy of City Information Office)
P2 million will go to Tacloban City, while the provincial governments of Leyte and Southern Leyte will receive P3 million each, according to the resolution approved in Monday’s special session.
The amount was taken from the 5% of the lump sum appropriation of the city’s calamity fund.
Part of the condition for the release of the fund is the declaration of a state of calamity by the provincial governments in Leyte.
President Aquino has declared a state of national calamity.
City administrator Melchor Quitain said the amount was divided based on the size of each area.
“When you talk about the city, you’re talking about one area. The allocation for the others includes the money for municipalities and barangays,” Quitain explained.
Last Sunday, the city also sent a team of responders, including search and rescue operators and health workers.
“Davao city has modern equipment, but this isn’t just for Davaoenos alone. The mandate is to help them, be with them and to die for them,” Duterte told reporters during the sendoff held at the Public Safety Command Center last Saturday.
Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte in an interview urged fellow Davaoenos to help in any way they can.
“Every time we look at the news, it is about the storm that hit Visayas, especially in Tacloban and Leyte. Find a way that we can help our friends wholeheartedly,” he said.
Mayor Duterte said that aside from cash the assistance from the city will include personnel and equipment.
“In the next 48 hours, food will be pouring in from those who donated. The affected areas are getting a lot of sympathy and assistance,” he said.
City Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte yesterday went to Tacloban via Cebu to sympathize and “share the grief” with Mayor Alfred Romualdez, and then leave for Maasin, Southern Leyte and other affected areas of the island.
He said the emergency response team that the city sent to the Yolanda-hit areas also had with them medicines and antibiotics.
He added he had ordered Task Force Davao’s Major Anthony Fer Solamo to secure the convoy, and even suggested that the military escorts shoot looters in the foot.
Yolanda (international name: Haiyan) hit the island of Leyte, Samar and other provinces in the Visayas last Friday, flattening towns and urban centers and leaving several people dead.
The Joint Typhoon Warning Center said Yolanda was packing maximum sustained winds of 315 kph (measured at 1-minute intervals). If verified, this could surpass old record of 305 kph set by Hurricane Camille in 1969. (MindaNews)