Labella sends team to assess needs of earthquake-hit areas in Mindanao

Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella | CDN Digital file photo

CEBU CITY— Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella sent a team to assess damage that was caused by the magnitude 6.5 earthquake that hit Tulunan in North Cotabato and parts of Central Mindanao on Thursday, October 31, 2019.

The team consisting of Councilor Dave Tumulak; Sheila Daluz, chief of the Department of Manpower Development and Placement; Harold Alcontin, head of the Cebu City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council; and Simeon Romarate, head of the Cebu City Division for Welfare of the Urban Poor are tasked to also determine the kind of assistance that City Hall should be sending to earthquake-affected provinces.

The group left Cebu this morning, November 4.

“They are there (in Mindanao) right now to assess the local governments, the municipalities that were affected by the earthquake. And they will make a report to us on what are the things needed primarily, the aids that we’ll be sending to these municipalities,” Labella said.

In his press conference held earlier today, Labella said he did not want to waste government funds on areas that do not need the city’s help.

Learning from the city’s experience when Super Typhoon Yolanda hit in 2013, Labella said he did not want to release City Hall funds to areas that were barely affected by the calamity.

While the city government is preparing to held earthquake victims in Mindanao, Labella is also asking Cebuanos to make donations of food and bottled water, among others.

“We are also asking the help of the business sector and other well-meaning citizens,” he added.

Labella said they are setting “Tabang Mindanao” relief assistance centers near the Fuente Osmeña Circle in uptown CebuCity and at Plaza Sugbo in the downtown area to receive the donations. / dcb