It will be a Christmas without homes, power and water for many victims of Typhoon “Odette” in southern Negros Occidental.
Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson said he requested, in the presence of President Rodrigo Duterte Monday, for manpower to help the Negros Occidental Electric Cooperative restore power in the southern part of the province.
Power needs to be restored because there is very poor quality of water right now in the south, and communication is affected, Lacson said Wednesday, December 22.
Kabankalan Mayor Pedro Zayco said if the water problem is not resolved soon, they will be faced with people getting sick.
Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri, who was in Negros, promised the governor that he would contact the Department of Energy and the National Electrification Administration to help hasten the restoration of power.
“We will ask power cooperatives in the other parts of the Visayas that were not badly hit by the typhoon to help Negros,” he said.
The restoration of power in southern Negros Occidental was also being hampered by the refusal of some landowners, especially in Ilog town, to let repair crews in because of pending disputes over rights of way, Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said.
He appealed to the landowners not to hold hostage the welfare of the people of southern Negros.
The provincial government has so far sent 18 small generators to southern Negros for the charging of basic survival equipment of local disaster teams, such as cellular phones and flashlights, Diaz said.
The provincial government will send more generator sets from hospitals and evacuation centers that can be spared, he added.
The National Grid Corp. of the Philippines has restored power to northern Negros but electric cooperatives are still repairing some local distribution lines, Diaz said.
The provincial government is also continuing to send food assistance and potable water to the typhoon hit areas, he said.
He called on residents lining up for water to bring their own empty jerry cans in exchange for those filled with water, so that they can be used for the delivery of further supply.
Diaz said the provincial government is also sending teams with chain saws to help clear the roads in Sipalay City, and heavy equipment to Isabela to clear fallen trees.
They are asking permission from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to use the fallen trees as building materials for those whose houses were damaged and destroyed by the typhoon, he said.
The Department of Trade and Industry has also been asked to enforce the Negros Occidental Sangguniang Panlalawigan resolution setting a price freeze on basic commodities, Diaz added.
Diaz said the COVID-19 vaccination drive has slowed down following the typhoon because for now the priority of residents is their survival.*