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The Philippine National Red Cross will construct at least 5,000 new
houses for victims of Typhoon Frank in the Bicol region and in Panay
island, as part of its rehabilitation program.
Red Cross Chairman Sen. Richard Gordon said the
organization has committed to construct the houses with the help of
volunteers in affected areas.
“The help the victims need should not be
limited to relief but we should also rehabilitate their lives,”
Gordon said in a weekly news forum.
He explained that immediately, 1,000 units will
be built, of which 750 will be in Iloilo and 250 in Aklan.
Gordon said this is not the first time the Red
Cross will embark on a massive housing construction and
rehabilitation program.
Eight months after the Bicol region was battered
by a strong typhoon in 2006, the Red Cross and the International
Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies were able to
build more than 13,000 homes for affected families.
At the same time Gordon said he would ask
concerned agencies to provide soft loans for fisherfolks who lost
their only source of income from the typhoon and capsizing of the
ill-fated MV Princess of the Stars, which left the seas off Sibuyan
island and nearby provinces not feasible for fishing for the
meantime.
He also urged the owner of the Princess of the
Stars, Sulpicio Lines, and even the government to immediately
initiate steps to salvage the ship and remove it from its present
location.
“We can’t just let Princess of the Stars to
lay there. It poses serious risks,” Senator Gordon said referring
to the tons of the toxic pesticide, endosulfan, and the thousands of
gallons of diesel left in the capsized ship, both of which are
potential hazards to the environment.
-- Jefferson Antiporda
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