MANILA, Philippines – Vice President Leni Robredo helped distribute P2.295 million worth of relief goods in 3 evacuation centers in Albay on Wednesday, January 24, as Mount Mayon continued to spew ash, smoke, and lava. 

The Vice President personally checked on the situation of evacuees who fled to Bariw National High School in Camalig, Guinobatan East Central School in Guinobatan, and Ligao City Technical Vocation School in Ligao City.

The Office of the Vice President (OVP) has so far spent P2.295 million in relief goods, including 4,100 food packs and 410 sacks of rice from the National Food Authority.

The OVP was also able to give several face masks, blankets, mats, hygiene kits, and food, pledged by private companies through Robredo’s flagship anti-povety program Angat Buhay.

Robredo said several OVP staff members will be left in Albay to further assess how her office can be of help to the evacuees in other parts of Albay. 

She then called for a long-term approach in addressing calamities that hit Albay, like volcanic eruptions and typhoons. 

Robredo said turning schools into evacuation centers in times of calamities forces students to stop their schooling. 

“Siguro [kailangan nang] pag-aralan iyong mga madalas na i-declare na danger zones. At kung mayroon lang rin namang permanenteng lilipatan, baka puwedeng tingnan na [iyong paglipat sa mga residente] doon,” she said.

(Perhaps we need to study which areas are usually declared as danger zones. If there are safer areas they can transfer to, maybe we can assess if the residents can be asked to move there.)

More than 56,000 residents are now crammed in schools and other buildings two weeks after Mt Mayon began showing signs of unrest. Foreign tourists, however, have flocked to Albay to watch the volcano’s flaming lava. – Rappler.com