Press Release
July 30, 2018

Statement of Sen. Francis "Kiko" Pangilinan, Partido Liberal president, on the P2.4-B flood damage

Recent reports by the National Disaster and Risk Reduction Management Council placed the damage from heavy rains in the last two weeks at P2.4 billion.

Many towns remain submerged in flood waters, like in Bulacan, even as the rains have stopped.

This calls for immediate aid and assistance to the affected communities. Now that we have the numbers, concerned government agencies should be able to focus their resources and efforts to help the victims recover.

The Department of Social Welfare and Development and local government units should remain in the frontlines of aid distribution, such as food packs, health kits, and clean water. The Department of Health should help check the condition of the people, and avert the spread of diseases. The Department of Public Works and Highways should clear the roads of obstructions, and immediately fix damaged infrastructures.

The Department of Agriculture and its attached agencies should attend to the needs of the farmers who have lost their crops. The DA should help the farmers gain access to free seedlings, loans, and other assistance so that they could plant anew.

We ask the Department of Budget and Management to make a report on the available funds that may be tapped for this purpose lodged in the President's contingency fund and in the budget of the departments.

The rains may have stopped, but the misery of a number of our countrymen continues. Let us not let their woeful condition be drowned in the noise of politics. Help should reach them faster so that they could rise from this calamity.

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