120 Cops Sent To Bohol To Prevent Looting

A security contingent of 120 police officers was deployed in Bohol the other day to maintain peace and order and nip in the bud any looting and food riots as relief efforts moved slowly to remote communities in the aftermath of Typhoon Odette.

The Regional Mobile Force Battalion 7 contingent from Cebu was split into teams and fielded in the municipalities of Ubay, Bien Unido, Talibon, Getafe, Buenavista, Inabanga and President Carlos Garcia.

“We dispatched them to the northern part of Bohol that was hardest hit by typhoon Odette,” Col. Osmundo Salibo, Bohol police director, told radio station dzBB on Wednesday, Dec. 22.

Salibo said additional ground forces were securing gasoline stations, banking institutions, water refilling stations, public markets and charging stations. They will also help in retrieval and clearing operations.

Bohol Gov. Arthur Yap raised the scenario of looting and lawlessness in the province as food, water and other essential goods have been running low.

Yap said he could no longer secure rice and other food as his contingency fund is already depleted.

He urged the national government to send in soldiers and police after receiving reports of looting, particularly in Talibon where several suspects had been arrested by local law enforcers.

Salibo said the suspects in the case were not only looting for food to eat when they broke into a grocery store.

“They had a vehicle. They were not interested only in food,” he added.

Salibo disclosed the augmenting force is a big help, stressing that local police officers could not handle all the work because they are typhoon victims themselves.

Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said on Wednesday over 25,000 uniformed personnel have been deployed to augment disaster response operations in storm-battered areas in the Visayas and Mindanao.

“This is to ensure that peace and order is maintained. They will also help in rescue and recovery operations and also in the relief and rehabilitation effort,” Año said of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) personnel sent to the disaster areas.

He added that a Victims Information Center has been set up by the BFP to aid individuals reporting missing relatives. Work for 25,000 In another development, 25,000 informal sector workers in typhoon-stricken areas will be given emergency employment by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).

DOLE Secretary Silvestre Bello III said about P100 million has been allocated for the cash-for-work Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced (TUPAD) workers in West-ern, Central and Eastern Visayas, Northern Mindanao and Caraga regions.

Each of the five regions will receive P20 million for the emergency employment of 5,000 beneficiaries, Bello said, adding that the job contract will be for 10 days.

Mainly the task of the workers to be hired will be clearing of debris, de-clogging of canals, debris segregation, materials recovery and other activities needed in the rehabilitation of their communities.

Through this engagement, the workers “will not only earn money but also help rebuild their lives and locality,” Bello said.

Bureau of Workers with Special Concerns Director Ma. Karina Perida-Trayvilla said the DOLE will be profiling those eligible for the work-for-cash program in the calamity areas.

VSAT communications

Very small aperture terminal or VSAT satellite stations are being set up in strategic locations in the provinces ravaged by Odette, the new Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) chief said.

ICT Secretary Emmanuel Rey Caintic told the Laging Handa public briefing on Wednesday that his department is racing to provide emergency communications, particularly to aid rescue and recovery teams working in worst-hit areas.

“First, it is of the highest importance that we allow the local officials in these provinces and the municipalities in these provinces to properly coordinate their efforts with the use of VSATs and

all other emergency communication equipment such as satphones (satellite phones),” Caintic said in Filipino.

Next on their agenda would be the setting up of free WiFi sites for the use of typhoon victims who need to get in touch with their loved ones and call for assistance. “Tawag Centers” will also be established, Caintic said.

Leni, Kris bring aid

Vice President Leni Robredo and Kris Aquino brought more food assistance to typhoon victims in Negros Occidental last Tuesday, Dec. 21, stressing that their relief effort was not a one-time delivery.

Robredo visited the cities of Kabankalan and Himamaylan and announced that she was leaving a team in the province to look into what else they can do to help residents get back on their feet.

A day earlier, President Duterte and his Cabinet members inspected heavily damaged areas in Kabankalan City, earmarking P2 billion for rehabilitation and recovery efforts in Western Visayas, said Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson.

During her visit in the same city, Robredo said her team came over with no other agenda but to help.

“I personally came to make them feel that I am with them and they are not alone in this time, while coping with the devastation of the typhoon,” she said.

Aquino and her fiancé, former interior secretary Mel Sarmiento, joined Robredo in distributing relief goods.

Welcomed by Lacson in Kabankalan, Robredo distributed P1 million worth of rice and hundreds of canned goods, while Aquino also pledged to send bottled water, 500 SIM packs with P100 load each.

Lacson was equally welcoming of Duterte’s and Robredo’s teams, voicing out that the province’s main concern was the restoration of power in the 5th and 6th districts.

“If you bring back power, you have better water and communication,” he stressed.

Lacson said he requested Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi to augment Negros Occidental Electric Cooperative personnel in restoring power lines in the southern areas, particularly Kabankalan and Sipalay cities and Ilog and Cauayan towns.

Also last Tuesday, the Provincial Board gave its approval to the governor’s resolution placing Negros Occidental under a state of calamity in order to tap its disaster funds.

Lacson said the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), through Secretary Rolando Bautista, will allot funds for houses that were destroyed (P30,000 each) and those partially damaged (P15,000).

Davao City sends help

In Davao City, Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio led the organization of 106 emergency responders and procurement of relief goods as the city’s contribution to the relief effort in areas battered by Odette.

A candidate for vice president in next year’s polls, Duterte-Carpio sent the relief and rescue team to the municipality of Ubay in Bohol. In her Facebook post, the mayor said: “Doctors, social workers and rescue personnel responded to a call from the Bohol officials asking for more people to respond to the victims of Typhoon Odette.”

The team from Davao also brought rice, water, food packs and other supplies to the typhoon-affected residents not only in Bohol but also in Cebu province.

“This is about 55 tons. There is no more space on the plane, so the other supplies will be transported to Cebu through trucks,” Duterte-Carpio said.

Separate Davao City teams were also sent to other typhoon-battered areas in Mindanao like Surigao del Sur. – With Romina Cabrera, Sheila Crisostomo, Rainier Allan Ronda, Gilbert Bayoran, Edith Regalado