CLARK RELIEF EFFORT REACH OUT
TO OTHER CENTRAL LUZON PROVINCES
[PHOTO
AT LEFT - Members of the Clark Outreach Program for Ondoy Victims distribute
relief goods to typhoon victims in Candaba, Pampanga. | Zoom CLARK FREEPORT ,
Philippines]
MANILA, OCTOBER 10, 2009 (STAR) Officials of the Clark Freeport are now eyeing Bulacan and other provinces in Central Luzon after the successful conduct of relief operations in three Pampanga towns that suffered the brunt of tropical storm “Ondoy.”
Last Wednesday, members of the “Clark Outreach Program for Ondoy Victims” team proceeded to the towns of Arayat, Candaba, and Lubao to distribute more than 2,500 packs of various relief goods to typhoon victims there.
Clark Development Corp. (CDC) president Benigno Ricafort said the success of the relief operation is boosted by the pouring of more cash and relief donations from members of the Clark Freeport community and other benefactors.
“The overwhelming support being extended by our benefactors has encouraged us to reach out to other victims of Ondoy in Bulacan and other provinces in Central Luzon,” Ricafort said, adding that volunteers are working round the clock repacking relief goods at the Clark Expo here.
Ricafort said members of the Clark Investors and Locators Association, 600th Air Base Wing of the Philippine Air Force, and the Clark International Airport Corp. (CIAC) have raised more than P1 million in cash and relief goods to help victims of Ondoy in Pampanga.
He said the CDC-initiated relief operations dubbed “Clark Outreach Program for Ondoy Victims” stemmed from a meeting with President Arroyo, Secretary Edgardo Pamintuan and Central Luzon police director Leonilo de la Cruz held at the White House here last Sept. 28.
He said the CDC and CIAC each donated P250,000, while Cyber City Teleservices, Paradise Ranch, Aritake Estates and Widus International each donated P100,000 for the typhoon victims.
Also, Peregrine Development International president Dennis Wright said his company will shell out P500,000, adding that Peregrine will also provide 20 volunteers and heavy equipment like bulldozers and dump trucks to help clear affected areas of debris.
Ricafort said Smart Shirts, another top locator in Clark, has pledged P100,000 worth of export-quality clothes manufactured at the Clark Freeport.
Ricafort said CILA has been tasked to be the secretariat of the Clark outreach program. Donations in cash or in kind could be coursed through Justice Dalida of CILA at (045) 599-3442, (045) 599-7522 or +63918-930-3694, or via clarkinvestors@gmail.com.
5,800 Botolan folk told to permanently leave homes By Ding Cervantes (The Philippine Star) Updated October 10, 2009 12:00 AM
SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga , Philippines – Zambales Gov. Amor Deloso said residents of four barangays in Botolan town have to permanently abandon their homes as the Bucao River continues to flow through their villages toward the South China Sea.
Rampaging waters from the Bucao River, which first wreaked havoc in Botolan during storm “Kiko” last Aug. 6, have prevented some 5,800 evacuees from returning to their homes in Barangays Carael, Paudpod, Batonlapoc, and lower San Juan.
A dike breached during Kiko collapsed again during tropical storm “Ondoy.”
An official of the Provincial Disaster Coordina-ting Council earlier admitted that the natural channel of the Bucao River used to flow through the four affected barangays.
Earlier, Chief Superintendent Leon Nilo de la Cruz, Central Luzon police director, said the government would permanently relocate the displaced residents and allow the Bucao River to run its path now.
De la Cruz said Public Works and Highways Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane reached this decision in a recent meeting of the Regional Disaster Coordinating Council.
“The decision was to let the river seek its natural course,” he said, echoing statements that the Bucao River has merely reclaimed its original channel.
Flooding since Ondoy has affected 10 out of 31 barangays in Botolan, but the four barangays that Deloso named were the most severely affected.
The provincial government, Deloso said, is now drafting a master plan for a 4,000-unit socialized housing project that will be put up on a 52-hectare land he himself donated near the still-to-be-completed Iba-Tarlac Road in upper San Juan.
Deloso could not readily give an estimate of the cost of each housing unit but said the road construction alone would amount to some P61 million.
“We are trying to lessen the cost of the project so that the beneficiaries will not have a hard time paying for their units,” he said.