In gratitude for 2006 aid, Albay sends help to Rizal

LEGAZPI CITY, Philippines – In a gesture of gratitude to Rizal for extending help when super typhoon “Reming” pounded Albay in 2006, Gov. Joey Salceda is sending a health team to the province which tropical storm “Ondoy” battered last weekend.

Salceda sent off the team in the presence of President Arroyo who led the groundbreaking of the Polangui water system’s rehabilitation yesterday morning.

Salceda also handed out a P1-million check for storm-battered Rizal, to be divided into P200,000 each for the towns of Tanay, Baras, Cainta, San Mateo, and Rodriguez (formerly Montalban).

“Hindi kami laging humihingi sa iyo, Mam, and it’s about time, Mam, na kami naman ang magbigay sa iyo (We don’t always ask from you, Mam, and it’s about time, Mam, that we are the ones giving something to you),” he told the President.

Aside from the cash donation, Salceda is also deploying a 10-man team from the Albay Health Emergency Management to the National Disaster Coordinating Center headquarters in Metro Manila to support the ongoing relief operations.

The team is bringing with them a water purifier donated by the Spanish government when typhoon Reming devastated Albay in November 2006.

The water purifier machine, boarded on an M-35 truck of the Army’s 901st Infantry Brigade, can process some 180,000 liters of water in an hour.

Cedric Daep, head of the Albay Provincial Security and Emergency Management Office, said the team would be deployed for a week.