THE Social Welfare Department is asking President Rodrigo Duterte for an additional P614 million to help augment the assistance to be provided the budget for typhoon ‘‘Nina’’ victims.
“We need P614 million to augment for this relief assistance,” Social Welfare Secretary Judy Taguiwalo told a Palace news briefing.
“We’re always being asked by the President, ‘Do you still have money?’ So right now, we are asking for additional money for Nina. This will augment our relief goods and we will be preparing a proposal [for] emergency shelter assistance. So that will be requested from DBM [Department of Budget and Management] because the books for 2016 will soon close,” she added.
Nina, which made landfall eight times during Christmas, affected over 813 barangays and 206,812 families.
In Bicol, the area most ravaged by the typhoon, 504 barangays were affected by the typhoon, according to Taguiwalo.
Albay suffered the brunt of the typhoon with over 100,000 families in 240 barangays affected.
Affected families in other areas: 5,105 families in 80 barangays in Mimaropa; 4,000 families in 161 barangays in Calabarzon with 2,866 of the affected families in 104 barangays in Quezon; and, six barangays in Marinduque.
A total P47.298 million worth of relief goods, meanwnhile, have been distributed by the DSWD and local government units.
In related developments:
• The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources said it was probing passenger ferry vessels’ damage to coral reefs in Oriental Mindoro.
During the onslaught of Nina, 11 identified commercial passenger ferry boats rammed into coral reefs in the nearby waters of Barangay Balatero, Puerto Galera, Oriental Mindoro.
BFAR said the ferry boats: M/V Reina Olivia, M/V Ariana Gabrielle, LCT Anisha, Baleno 5, Baleno 7, Baleno 8, Oceanjet 10, Oceanjet 12, Starlight Blue Sea, Starlite Polaris, and M/V Bernadette were seeking refuge from strong winds and massive waves when they rammed into the coral reefs damaging them.
The sea grasses where schools of fish and other marine resources were also swept.
• The National Irrigation Administration reported a P191.38 million worth of irrigation damage from the typhoon.
Administrator Peter Laviña said damage to irrigation facilities reached about P51.58 million for crops and P138.80 million for infra covering 7,748 hectares of lands and affecting 8,953 farmers.
• In Davao City, the City Council approved P11 million financial aid for Nina’s victims in Luzon areas struck by the super typhoon.
The financial assistance—for Camarines Sur, Albay, Catanduanes, and Calapan City in Mindoro—will be handed to the local government units by Davao City’s Central Communication and Emergency Response Center chief Emmanuel Jaldon.
• Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate on Thursday criticized the Office of the Civil Defense National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council and telecommunications firms over alleged failure to alert the public of the impact of Nina.
He expressed disappointment for the non-implementation of Republic Act 10639.
“NDRRMC claimed the telcos sent out disaster text alerts before and during typhoon Nina. If this were so, how come many still complained they did not receive such message alerts? How many residents then, if at all, from those regions or even those with storm signals raised in their areas received by these so-called ‘ghost text alerts?’” he asked. With Rio Araja, Pearl Gajunera and Vito Barcelo