Rama wants Cebu city to adopt affected towns

It’s time to stop sending relief goods to areas affected by the supertyphoon, Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama said yesterday.

What victims need now are materials to rebuild their homes.

He proposed that Cebu City adopt a town in northern Cebu and another one in Leyte province, such as Tanauan, Palo or Ormoc City.

“We must help Leyte. If the power supply in Leyte is not restored, damage in the Leyte-Panay grid will not only affect Cebu but the whole country,” he said.

Rama has yet to discuss the idea with the Cebu City Council. He said they will deliberate on this when he returns from his weekend trip to Macau where he will watch the Pacquiao-Rios boxing bout on Sunday.

Former mayor Tomas Osmeña also left for Macau yesterday to watch the fight.

Rama said his plan will need the City Council’s approval.

“We have to start rebuilding. If we continue to send relief goods, when can they ever get back on their feet?”

Rama said he thought of the “adopt-an-LGU plan” following the example of Muntinlupa City which adopted Tanauan, Leyte.

The Archdiocese of Cebu earlier announced an “adopt-a-parish” program, matching parishes in Metro Cebu with those in storm-hit areas of north Cebu.

Rama encouraged revenue-generating barangays in the city to also adopt a typhoon affected barangay.

Proposals have also been aired for citizens to adopt a typhoon-affected family.

As this developed, Cebu-based Emergency Rescue Unit Foundation (ERUF) sent an ambulance and a team of doctors and six paramedics to Tacloban City.

The team led by Dr. Don Doncillo brought an ambulance which was flown to Tacloban on a Swedish C-130 plane.

ERUF has been transporting patients from the Eastern Visayas Regional Medical Center and the St. Paul’s Hospital to the Australia Armed Forces Field Hospital based near the Tacloban airport.

Two patients with bone fractures were treated.

As Tacloban and other severely affected areas started to normalize and recover, patients have started to flock to the hospitals.

“They already have something to eat with distributed relief goods. Now, their concern is their health,” said ERUF volunteer Nagiel Banacia.

“The Australian military asked for ERUF’s help for ambulance services after they found difficulty transporting patients to their field hospital, said Banacia.

He said that more ambulances are needed in the area. Vehicles brought by the US marines, the Malaysians and the Koreans are not designed to transport patients to hospitals.