The evacuees inside the Batangas City sports complex cheered when President Rodrigo Duterte stepped onto a makeshift platform in one corner of the stadium on Tuesday, January 14.
He had just spent more than three hours in a situation briefing with national and provincial officials in a building next to the coliseum. Taal Volcano had erupted two days earlier, on Sunday, January 12, throwing out ash, steam and lava.
Duterte told the crowd, in Filipino, that he had come to help people hit by the eruption in Batangas, Cavite, Laguna and other areas, and that he would do everything to get them back to normal. Communities struck by disasters such as typhoons and earthquakes should return to normal life at once, he said.
Precy Castillo, 64, of Barangay Wawa Ibaba in Lemery, said his presence mattered. “He wouldn’t come here if he doesn’t care for us,” she said.
Money for farmers and fisherfolk
Duterte handed over P7.5 million in livelihood assistance to Batangas farmers whose crops were damaged by the eruption. Another P3.5 million went to the province’s fisherfolk. A check was also given through a Batangas rural bank to help farmers recover. All of it came from the Department of Agriculture.
He also led the ceremonial handing out of family food packs to five affected families. The Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, the Department of Health and the Department of Social Welfare and Development were the lead agencies in providing the aid. The president told the evacuees the government had the resources to help until they got back on their feet.
Inside the stadium
More than 1,214 families were staying at the complex. Local and national agencies had set up a kind of one-stop help desk there, with first aid and medical support, free calls and cellphone charging, and feeding stations giving out cooked food, ready-to-eat items and bottled water. There was even a table of pre-owned clothes, where people of any size could pick what they wanted.
Volunteers kept arriving with donations, some bringing truckloads of bottled water and rice. Donn dela Cruz of the Batangas Varsitarian set up a clothes table with more than 50 boxes collected from members and donors.
Most people living near the volcano had answered the call for voluntary evacuation. Milo Mercado of Barangay Sentorisan in San Nicolas said he and his family of seven boarded a truck with relatives and went straight to the complex on Sunday. “We arrived at the stadium with our clothes and bodies peppered with ash,” he said. He said they would wait for the authorities to say when they could go home.
After the eruption, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, the Department of Public Works and Highways and the social welfare department sent teams to the affected areas.
