Almost P5 million in financial assistance was distributed by the Department of Social Services and Development (DSSD) to residents whose houses were damaged when Super Typhoon Odette hit Bacolod City in mid-December.
Nine hundred eighty-seven recipients received the cash aid from the city government through Mayor Evelio Leonardia and Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran at the Gonzaga gym in Barangay Taculing and the Bacolod Arts Center Thursday, February 3, a press release said.
“I am happy that we have already reached a lot of the victims of Typhoon Odette. I am also thankful because they cooperated with our preemptive evacuation, and it saved a lot of lives,” Leonardia said.
“In the past, it was very difficult to encourage the people but this time, and because we evacuated more than five thousand Bacolodnons before the typhoon hit, we were able to avoid casualties unlike other places,” the mayor added.
Meanwhile, 60 carinderia owners from Bacolod City received P3, 500 each courtesy of the “Sari-Saring Pag-asa” program of former House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano.
Leonardia distributed the financial help to recipients at ceremonies held at the Bacolod City Government Center Thursday.*