DAVAO CITY (September 22) — President Rodrigo Duterte on Friday said he was saddened by the recent landslide in Naga, Cebu City.
Duterte who visited the victims at the Enan Chiong Activity Center said “I was saddened by what happened. The crisis that you are now going through is not easy. It is excruciating because many people were affected and many had died.”
The center serves as the temporary shelter to more or less 400 families of Sitio Sindulan, Barangay Tinaan who fled their homes in the wake of the incident that happened on Thursday, September 20.
Duterte comforted the families whose relatives were either reported dead or missing.
The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the Office of the President will provide a total of P45, 000 to each family whose kin died in the landslide, and P10, 000 to those who were injured.
Apart from the cash aid, Duterte also ordered the government agencies concerned to attend to the needs of the victims—from food to medical and burial support.
He also tasked the local government to provide the evacuees a proper relocation as they can no longer head back to their previous homes because of the location’s potential danger to their lives.
During the dialogue with the affected families, Duterte asked Naga City Mayor Kristine Chiong “So now I asked [the] mayor, ‘What is your solution? You are the one who hails from here. You’re the mayor.”
Chiong told Duterte the need to transfer the residents from the danger is urgent and there is a property owned by the province which can be used.
With the available government property, Duterte ordered National Housing Authority (NHA) General Manager Marcelino Escalada Jr. and Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) Chairperson Eduardo Del Rosario to immediately construct houses for the landslide victims.
“So, now that I told you about the relocation, I will also send the NHA here. I will look for funding,” Duterte noted.
Recently, over 65 people were killed while hundreds were affected when a landslide happened in Itogon, Benguet after the onslaught of Typhoon ‘Ompong.’ Several days later, the landslide in Naga occurred due to heavy monsoon rain.-ezc/newsline
