Bani mayor pleads for help
BANI—Mayor Marcelo Navarro Jr. of this third class municipality pleads for help from the national government with more than half of the homes damaged by Typhoon Emong remain unrepaired, more than two weeks after the calamity.
In an interview with The PUNCH, Navarro said about 90% of the houses in their town, numbering about 6,700, were either totally or partially damaged and of these, 60% of affected households are still living in makeshift tents.
Navarro appealed to national officials to “take a hard look at their situation and the suffering of the people especially now that the monsoon rains are coming.”
Based on the report of the Office of Civil Defense, Bani underwent storm signal number 4 and level devastation number 4 for at least 30 minutes when Emong whipped through Western Pangasinan, leaving Bani as the most heavily devastated.
Half of the town’s P3 million calamity fund had already been used for relief goods distribution.
Classes, when school reopens on June 1, will be held “under the tents” provided by the municipal government.
“We are committed to open the classes on June 1 but maybe under the tarpaulin roofs or tents,” he said.
A labor force working on a food-for-work scheme is presently helping clear the grounds, collecting the galvanized iron (GI) sheets blown by the wind to be used to for schools’ repair.
Meanwhile, Navarro thanked the Makati City government under Mayor Jejomar Binay for donating 400 pieces of GI sheets for the town’s day care centers.
At presstime, power supply and communication infrastructure have yet to be fully restored.
The bird sanctuary, which is among the town’s major tourist attractions in San Miguel and Apurao, was also damaged but Navarro said “it’s a good thing the birds are surprisingly back”.#
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