Lawmakers help 1,200 typhoon survivors

MANILA, Philippines - Metro Manila congressmen have helped 1,200 survivors of Super Typhoon Yolanda who have abandoned their devastated communities and sought refuge in the metropolis.

Quezon City Rep. Winston Castelo told reporters yesterday that the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), which is processing typhoon victims arriving at the Villamor Airbase, has sought their help in transporting 1,200 survivors.

“Our congressional staff brought them to their relatives here in Metro Manila after they were registered and processed,” he said.

The lawmakers are calling their initiative “Project Yakap.”

“We are readying temporary shelter and financial assistance, in case that will be needed,” said Castelo, who heads the project.

Valenzuela Rep. Sherwin Gatchalian, a former mayor of his city, said they have a Bahay Kalinga shelter in Valenzuela where some transients could temporarily be housed.

“We have enough relief goods to feed them,” he said.

Gatchalian led a convoy of vehicles that brought relief goods to Guiuan, Eastern Samar last weekend. Guiuan is the town where Yolanda made landfall on Nov. 8.

Castelo said they would only “adopt” typhoon victims registered and processed by the DSWD.

He said DSWD personnel, together with their congressional staff and local government units, would have to “contain and track” the relocated families so they could be returned to their communities when life normalizes.

“We will return them, if they want to, but I’m sure some of them would want to remain with their relatives here or to take their chances in the metropolis,” Gatchalian said.

Western Samar Rep. Mel Senen Sarmiento said if typhoon victims who have relocated to Metro Manila see that life is becoming normal in their province, they would most likely opt to return.