Playing the big brother role, Bacolod City is extending a P3.5 million assistance to the cities of Talisay, Silay and Victorias and E.B. Magalona town, where thousands of families living near waterways were hit hard by the Jan. 1 and Jan. 8 floods.
Bacolod City Mayor Evelio Leonardia said that each city in the Third District will get P1 million, while E.B. Magalona will receive P500,000.
Recipient-LGUs thanked the Bacolod City government for the assistance saying it was an unexpected help but a heart-warming gesture.
A total of 498 houses have been either damaged or destroyed in Silay City as a result of the two floods.
Silay City Mayor Mark Golez said he is offering a unit each to qualified affected families in the LGU’s relocation site in Barangay E. Lopez whose houses were destroyed.
Nineteen houses were destroyed on Jan. 1 and 29 more last Jan. 8 in 16 barangays affected by the flashfloods.
Golez said most of the destroyed houses were situated along river bank, while others were encroaching even water ways.
The city will not allow them to rebuild their houses in the same area and instead offered them to relocate to safer grounds as part of the campaign to clear waterways in flood-prone areas.
About 450 houses were damaged, the City Diaster Risk Reduction Management Office record showed.
Golez added he is planning to provide construction materials to affected families instead of financial assistance.
This is to ensure that the flood victims will use them to repair their damaged houses, he said.
In Talisay City, 228 families, whose houses were damaged or destroyed received financial assistance from the local government.
Mayor Neil Lizares turned over on Friday P7, 000 each to 29 families whose houses were swept by the floods.
Some 122 families with damaged houses received P5,000 each.
Earlier, the Talisay LGU released financial assistance of P8,000 each for 79 families with destroyed and damaged houses on New Year’s Day. – MML
