Albay folk get food from soldiers’ allowance

From the Philippine Daily Inquirer (Oct 27): Albay folk get food from soldiers’ allowance

GUINOBATAN, Albay—Some 2,200 families now staying in temporary evacuation centers in Albay due to the threat of Mount Mayon’s eruption will be eating food bought with soldiers’ allowances.

Maj. Angelo Guzman, spokesperson of Armed Forces of the Philippines Southern Luzon Command (Solcom), said the food packs, each consisted of 1.5 kilograms of whole frozen chicken, a bag of “sigarilyas” (winged beans), a whole head of squash and half a kilo of dried fish, were bought using combined subsistence allowances from soldiers under Solcom.

He said soldiers voluntarily gave up a day of their allowance, equivalent to P90, to buy the items for the evacuees in Guinobatan East Central School
and Mauraro Elementary School, both in Guinobatan town; and the Cabangan Elementary School in Camalig town.

He said the amount reached P602,000, gathered from soldiers under Solcom’s 2nd Cavalry Squadron, 3rd Communications Electronics and Information Systems Group, Philippine Army’s 2nd and 9th Infantry Division, Naval Forces Southern Luzon, Tactical Operations Group 4 and 5 of the Philippine Air Force and Solcom Headquarters.

“A burden shared becomes less of a burden,” explained Solcom commander Maj. Gen. Ricardo Visaya.

Guzman said the effort was made to help the local government of Albay address the nutritional needs of their evacuees.

He said food remains a primary concern among evacuees as attested by reports from Army soldiers guarding the 6-kilometer permanent danger zone (PDZ) who found out that the main reason the evacuees return to their homes and farms was to harvest vegetables and livestock for food.

Col. Samuel Gayongorsa, Solcom’s chief of Unified Command Staff, and Col. Raul Farnacio, commander of 901st Infantry Brigade, turned over the food packs for distribution to Albay Gov. Joey Salceda during his birthday celebration at Guinobatan East Central School on Sunday morning.

Mayon Volcano remained in a state of lull but Salceda said he had no plan of sending back to their houses the evacuees who have been living in shelters for 42 days until the alert level is lowered from 3 to 2.

“In terms of calamities especially during the restiveness of Mayon, attaining zero casualty is our main goal. Albay must not only be safe for tourists, for traders, but Albay must be safe for its own people,” Salceda told evacuees at Guinobatan East Central School.

Salceda said the provincial government has identified the possible permanent relocation area for residents of the 6-km PDZ, to be developed with the help of the National Housing Authority.

Cedric Daep, chief of the Albay Public Safety Emergency Management Office (Apsemo), said that if the alert level was to be lifted, evacuees living within the 7- to 8-km extended danger zone would be allowed to go home but not those from the 6-km PDZ.

Aside from food packs, evacuees have also been receiving psychosocial care activities and medical and dental checkups from the provincial government, different government line agencies, the AFP and the Philippine National Police.

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/647015/albay-folk-get-food-from-soldiers-allowance