City to extend P350T financial assistance to typhoon-ravaged Bicol
The city government will extend P350,000 financial assistance to seven cities in Bicol region hardly hit by the recent Typhoon Reming. The financial assistance will be taken from the city's five percent calamity fund.
In last Wednesday's regular, session of the Sangguniang Panglungsod, the council passed a resolution approving an allocation of P350,000 for the typhoon affected areas in the country. The resolution was authored by Majority Floor Leader Eduardo Peñaredondo.
Peñaredondo said there is no reason for the city not to help because even foreign countries have already signified their intentions to help the affected areas. His resolution was in response to the request of Mayor Jerry Treñas to give financial assistance to the areas devastated by typhoon Reming.
However, in Treñas's letter to the city council, he did not specify the areas where the money will go. It was generally stated for the seven cities affected by typhoon Reming. Based on reports, the affected areas are Naga, Iriga, Legazpi, Tabaco, Ligao, Lucena and Calapan in Mindoro.
The majority floor leader said it is better that it is the city which extend help than it is the city which will ask for help. No objections were raised on the floor when the matter was deliberated by the city council. The P350,000 is only a portion of the P135 million calamity fund of the city.
The giving of financial assistance is on the top list of the chief executive being the president of the League of Cities in the Philippines (LCP). In previous disasters, the city government had also extended financial help to the needy or affected cities.