PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte on Monday handed over P20 million and pledged to give another P50 million the following day to help the more than 70,000 evacuees displaced by Mt. Mayon’s eruption.
More than 70,000 evacuees are in need of food and water, toilets and medicines as Mayon Volcano continues to spew ash and lava.
Heavy rainfall over the weekend until early Monday triggered lahar and sediment-laden stream flows down Mt. Mayon to a river in Barangay Budiao in Daraga, Albay.
Maria Concepcion Barairo, science research specialist of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, said another heavy rainfall could pose risks to the lives of the people and their properties.
“Should another heavy rain pour over Mt. Mayon, rocks, debris, lava and other sediments could rapidly cascade down not only in rivers but also in the villages and could cause death,” she told the Manila Standard.
“We fear not only cascading water but also huge rocks falling down on the people.”
Salvador Galang, forecaster of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration, said moderate to heavy rain or even localized thunderstorms and rainfall had stopped in the vicinity of Mt. Mayon.
“It rained over the weekend due to a tail of a cold front,” he told the Manila Standard.
Duterte went to Bicol to monitor the situation in Albay, where he ordered Agriculture Secretary Manuel Piñol and other officials to provide assistance to the thousands affected by Mayon’s eruption.
“I am leaving right now, I will give it [the P20 million] to the provincial government of Albay. I understand that four or five municipalities have been hit hard,” Duterte told local officials.
He also asked P30 million from the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office for relief operations.
PCSO board mmber Sandra Cam handed over P5 million to Gov. Al Bichara during a situation briefing with disaster and local officials, but Duterte asked an additional P30 million more from the PCSO.
Duterte wants officials to ensure that the evacuees’ basic needs are met.
He instructed the Department of Defense to request the Armed Forces of the Philippines to transport portable toilets immediately.
Duterte also said Piñol was offering P100 million for agriculture.