GOVERNOR Victor Agbayani urged Wednesday the Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office in coordination with the municipal social welfare offices of the affected coastal towns to complete the socio/economic documentation of the families of survivors, casualties and the missing.
The documentation is needed by the provincial government to determine appropriate relief and livelihood assistance to the victims of the sea disaster and their families.
Task Force Infanta headed by Lt. Colonel Gregory Cayetano of the Philippine Army, which spearhead the relief and rescue operations for the affected fishermen, has already terminated its work last December 27 after the safe return and recovery of 202 persons.
Some 55 more of the original missing fishermen are unaccounted for.
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INFANTA, Pangasinan — “Madam President, please help us.”
This is the collective appeal of more than 200 fishermen from Barangay Cato here who had survived several days in the high seas after big waves destroyed their motorboats when they went fishing off the Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea last Dec. 16.
Charlito Manigo, Barangay Cato chairman, and Infanta Mayor Ruperto Martinez wrote President Arroyo through Undersecretary for Local Governance Antonio Villar Jr., a Pangasinense, on Dec. 30, appealing for financial assistance to (help the fishermen) start a new life.
Read full story in the Philippine Star
DAGUPAN CITY — Two weeks after several fishing boats sank amid huge waves in the South China Sea, relatives of missing fishermen from at least six coastal towns of Pangasinan and Zambales have not given up hope their loved ones would return home alive.
Mayor Ruperto Martinez of Infanta, Pangasinan, where most of the fishermen came from, said residents in the town remained hopeful their missing relatives “are just out there, somewhere, waiting to be sent home.”
Read full story in the Philippine Daily Inquirer
DAGUPAN CITY — A report that a meter-high (3.3 feet) tsunami will hit the northern Philippines after a strong earthquake hit Taiwan on Tuesday night sent villagers in coastal towns of Pangasinan, Cagayan and Batanes fleeing to higher ground, officials in these provinces said Wednesday.
In Pangasinan, Fred Castelo, chairman of the municipal disaster coordinating council of Bolinao town, said the council was immediately mobilized as residents were already panicking after they heard radio and television reports warning of the possibility that a tsunami would hit Basco, Batanes.
Read full story in the Philippine Daily Inquirer
