ARMM scraps anniversary fete to raise Yolanda funds

MANILA, Philippines - The Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) is canceling its 24th anniversary this week to raise funds for typhoon victims in the Visayas.

“We are canceling our anniversary celebration so we can save money to buy relief goods. We hope to raise at least P1 million,” ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman, a former congressman, said over the weekend.

He said he has also asked local officials in the region to share whatever they can with the victims of Super Typhoon Yolanda.

“Once we have the relief goods, we will bring them to Tacloban City and other areas devastated by the super typhoon,” he said.

ARMM has helped Zamboanga City residents displaced by the recent misadventure of disgruntled elements of the Moro National Liberation Front, and victims of Typhoon Pablo in Compostela Valley.

As a separate effort, Hataman said a group of former congressmen is raising funds for relief goods to be distributed to constituents of their colleague, former Rep. Florencio “Bem” Noel of the party-list group An Waray, in Tacloban City. The Noels lost their family home in the city.

Hataman said aside from him, the donors include Senators Juan Pablo Angara and Francis Escudero, former Cavite congressman Gilbert Remulla, Mayor Justin Marc Chipeco of Calamba City in Laguna, and Joel Villanueva, who heads the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority.

Hataman, Noel, Angara, Escudero, Remulla, Chipeco, and Villanueva are former colleagues in the House of Representatives.

“We will ask other friends in Congress like Senate Majority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano and his House counterpart, Rep. Boyet (Neptali) Gonzales (of Mandaluyong City), for contributions. We will welcome help from other members,” Hataman said.

The House, under Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr., is also raising funds for typhoon victims in the Visayas.

Belmonte is asking each House member to contribute P10,000 out of their salary to a relief fund.