Thousands of households in Negros Island have received relief assistance from power firm Energy Development Corp. which operates the 222.5-megawatt geothermal power plants in the municipality of Valencia, Negros Oriental
The Lopez-led geothermal energy leader has so far extended its pampamilyang malasakit (family compassion)relief operations to 2,700 households in its partner communities in Negros Oriental and Negros Occidental, a media release on Monday said.
The relief assistance included 260 sacks of 50 kilograms of rice that EDC provided to its host communities in Valencia, Negros Oriental; Bago City, Murcia, and Isabela in Negros Occidental in partnership with Dagiaw Experimental Theatre.
“We are doing our best to help ease the burden of our partner communities that were left homeless and hungry due to Typhoon Odette,” said Norreen Bautista, EDC corporate social responsibility team head in Negros Island.
Before sending out bags of rice, EDC immediately mobilized and distributed 700 sets of relief packs composed of drinking water, canned goods, noodles, milk, coffee, used clothes, blankets, towels, mats, and clothes.
The supplies were prepared by fully-vaccinated EDC employee-volunteers and college scholars for the residents of Bais and Manjuyod, Negros Oriental.
“It is heartwarming to see the exceptional bayanihan (cooperative undertaking) spirit of our employees and scholars. Our Negros employees also voluntarily canceled our virtual Christmas party last December to divert the funds for the event amounting to P20,000 to augment our relief operations,” Bautista said.
The EDC also provided aid to other “Odette”-stricken areas in the Visayas region, particularly Bohol, Cebu, and Leyte, and helped its customers Negros Oriental 1 Electric Cooperative Inc. and Negros Oriental 2 Electric Cooperative Inc. restore power in their respective areas.
EDC is First Gen’s 100-percent renewable energy arm, with over 1,480 megawatts total installed capacity. It accounts for 20 percent of the country’s overall installed RE capacity.
EDC’s almost 1,200 megawatts geothermal portfolio comprises 62 percent of the country’s total installed geothermal capacity and has put the Philippines on the map as the third largest geothermal producer in the world.
The Diocese of Dumaguete, in collaboration with the National Secretariat for Social Action Caritas Philippines, has also responded to the needs of the victims of Typhoon Odette in Negros Oriental as it starts distribution of shelter kits.
Fr. Hendrix Alar, emergency program leader of the diocese’s Command Center for Typhoon Odette Response, said they are getting ready for the next round of distribution of food items and hygiene kits to the displaced families and individuals.
“A team from barangay Tinago is currently helping in the packing of relief goods for distribution to 800 families, in collaboration with the NASSA Caritas Philippines and Caritas Manila,” he said in an interview on Monday.
The relief goods will be distributed to 300 families in Jimalalud, 250 in Tayasan, and 250 in Paniabonan, Mabinay as soon as the packing is completed.
The Diocese will then begin distributing shelter kits, comprising galvanized iron sheets, to parishioners pre-identified by their parish priests, whose houses were damaged by the typhoon, Alar said.
“With the type and scale of the disaster, it was decided on the sixth day of the aftermath of Typhoon Odette to create a command center as a separate unit from the Commission on Social Action for a focus and exclusive operation,” he said.
Dumaguete Bishop Julito Cortes visited Bais City and Manjuyod on the fourth day after the onslaught of “Odette”, bringing 56 boxes of foodstuffs and water and some cash donations, that he handed over to the parish priests.
Bishop Cortes also visited Bindoy, Ayungon, Tayasan, and Jimalalud days later to inspect damages on churches and hand over relief aid, Alar said.
A rapid assessment was conducted by Fr. Cecilio Gordoncillo, director of the Social Action Center of the diocese, and Eden Rose Sularte from Caritas Philippines.
The command center, he said, is responsible for carrying out emergency management and ensuring the continuity of relief operations for Typhoon Odette victims.
He said they are in constant communication with donors and beneficiaries, and “works within the designed programs of NASSA Caritas Philippines, and other command centers of the Catholic dioceses that were hit by the typhoon”.
“The Bishop emphasizes that we only augment the efforts of the government for together, we rise from these trials,” Alar said. (Judy F. Partlow/PNA)
