Oil spill evacuees to receive 'cash' for food

ILOILO CITY, Philippines — The Iloilo provincial government will give 'cash' as food allowance for each member of the oil spill-affected families in Brgy. Botongon of Estancia town in Iloilo, who are now housed at an evacuation center.

Provincial Administrator Raul Banias said each registered evacuee at the center will receive P30 food allowance per day apart from kilos of rice given to each family.

There are now 259 families or about 1, 400 individuals being served by the province, Estancia LGU and DSWD-6. The Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Canadian Armed Forces had joined to set-up the evacuees' tents.

Banias said the cash-for-food allowance will be taken from the quick response fund of the provincial government and will be given to the recipients as soon as the registration and payroll will finished.

He added that Estancia Mayor Rene Cordero pledged to handle the first five-day food allowance of the evacuees sourced out of the financial assistance of P 500,000 from the Federation of Filipino Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

Banias said the evacuees were forced out of their respective residences to free them from health hazards of the oil spill. Those remaining families at the site have started packing up their things to be ready for transfer anytime once the 150 additional tents from private donors will arrive at the evacuation center early this week.

Another evacuation center is being planned to be set up at the neighboring Brgy. Bulaqueña, where additional 150 evacuating families can be accomodated.

Around 200,000 liters of bunker fuel was spilled into the sea after it leaked from the punctured hull of Power Barge 103 owned by the National Power Corp. (Napocor) when typhoon Yolanda hit Western Visayas particularly northern Iloilo three weeks ago. The barge contains some 1.4 million liters of bunker fuel.

As of November 24, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) and workers of Kuan Yu Global Technologies Inc. commissioned by Napocor, had retrieved around 2,800 liters of bunker fuel and 43 tons of oil debris from the shoreline of the affected barangay. — (FREEMAN)