Treñas calls for concerted effort to recover from flood devastation
Treñas
Fresh from an official trip abroad, City Mayor Jerry Treñas is back to work facing the gargantuan task of making the city recover from the devastation brought by the flash flood caused by typhoon Frank over the weekend.
Treñas appealed for help from everyone for all the typhoon victims in the city that already reached to 48,411 families.
Treñas, who just returned from his trip in Morocco Tuesday immediately made rounds in the city to check on the destruction caused by flash floods. He assumed office yesterday and have lined up several measures to address the multifarious problems faced by the city especially the flood victims.
"The city will rise once again with the concerted effort of everyone. This is not the time to blame each other but a time to rekindle the spirit of love, unity and oneness. The city will overcome whatever destruction the typhoon has caused with Bangon Iloilo (rise Iloilo) as its new battle cry," said Treñas.
He added, there is no reason to look back on the sad fate of the people.
"The lives of the people who died in the calamity could not be returned. This is the time to look forward. It will not take time to recover from the destruction with everyone's help," Treñas said.
"There will be more dead due to diseases outbreak caused by the typhoon devastation if we do not work together to overcome the situation," he added.
Treñas said the cleanliness and sanitation in all evacuation centers must be observed.
The mayor observed that the destruction brought by the flood is more on the private properties. The government properties that were destroyed only includes the perimeter fence in the multi-million abattoir in Tacas, Jaro and roads, said Treñas.
In yesterday's interview with the members of the Iloilo City Hall Press Corps, Treñas took the opportunity to ask help for those affected by typhoon. Currently, there are some 1,843 families in the evacuation centers. They need to be fed for another 15 days to survive.
Treñas said the 1,843 families do not include those families who constructed makeshift tents beside the road.
"The city wants to help these people. They need assistance from the city government. They need food, water and medicine. Canned goods, noodles and rice are the much needed." Treñas said.
The chief executive thus appealed on the business sector to donate clothes, household utensils, pillows, blankets, mats, soap, plastic containers for water and water purification plants and medicines for the affected families.
On the other hand, Treñas yesterday issued Memorandum Order No. 466 series of 2008 directed towards all department heads, chiefs of offices and employees of the city government to temporarily defer all travels, leaves of absence, financial assistance and attendance to public functions requiring public funds.
The memorandum also directed all employees, regular and casuals to provide support for the relief and rehabilitation efforts of the city government for the typhoon victims.
"Further, all casual employees are ordered to report to their respective departments regularly and those who will be absent due to ailment are required to submit a medical certificate. Failure to do so shall be subject to termination," the memorandum added.
Department heads were likewise directed by Treñas to strictly monitor and make a regular report of attendance to him.