Senate budget hearings to tackle disaster response system – Zubiri

Residents in Tumaga barangay in Zamboanga City find their houses washed away by the strong current of Tumaga River. Photo courtesy of JAN SUAREZ

ZAMBOANGA CITY (MindaNews / 03 November)— The Senate budget hearings next week will tackle the need for local governments to streamline the nation’s disaster response system, and additional aid for areas hit by Typhoon Paeng, Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri said during his visit here Thursday.

Zubiri, whose Operation Tabang Mindanao donated 600 bags of rice containing 25-kilos each for families affected by “Paeng” in the city, said that “Mindanao will be needing sustained aid.”

“Paeng really battered Mindanao. The storm left a wreck across the country, but the damage and the loss here in Mindanao is especially devastating,” he said.

He said that as a Mindanawon he also felt what the local residents went through.

Zubiri also visited Cotabato City, the provinces of Maguindanao del Sur, Maguindanao del Norte, and Sultan Kudarat.

He expressed appreciation to nongovernment organizations and individuals that also extended assistance, including the Southern Philippine Deep Sea Fishing Association, which gave donations and allowed the use of some of their facilities in partnership with some contractors.

Meanwhile, Zamboanga City Mayor John Dalipe approved today Ordinance No. 586 which provides for the increase of burial assistance from six to twelve thousand pesos per indigent beneficiary in the city.

The ordinance says that P8,000 shall be paid directly either to the chosen funeral parlor or for a burial space at the Zamboanga City Public Cemetery, while the remaining P4,000 shall be given to the immediate family of the deceased.

Muslim beneficiaries shall receive the entire amount of P12,000. (Frencie Carreon/MindaNews)