Mayor Lani: Taguig City on top of situation
Over 4,000 evacuees get aid from local government
Taguig City Mayor Lani Cayetano on Tuesday assured her constituents that the local government is doing the best it can to evacuate and tend to those in flooded areas, and take them to safer grounds as floods continue to rise in some parts of the city due to the onslaught of tropical storm Maring and monsoon rains.
Since early Monday morning, Mayor Lani said the local government has evacuated some 889 families comprised of 4,053 individuals from 17 barangays all over Taguig.
“They are now housed in 22 evacuation centers set up by the city government. We want to assure everyone that the local government is on top of the situation,” she said.
According to Ronald Galicia, Taguig Rescue head, local rescuers and social welfare officials are working round-the-clock to care for the evacuees and monitor the situation in several barangays.
“At around 2 am last Monday, we already received reports of evacuation from several barangays. Taguig Rescue and the whole disaster response group have since been monitoring 24 hours to ensure the safety of our residents,” said Galicia.
He added that the team also conducted roving and patrol in Barangay Southside in The Fort.
Moreover, despite heavy rains and flooding, Mayor Lani on Monday and Tuesday personally visited the evacuees and made sure that every evacuation center is well-provisioned for the people.
She also visited early Tuesday morning the three pumping stations of the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) in Taguig and made sure that they have enough fuel to conduct operations to ease the flooding in several parts of the city.
Last year, the pumping stations in Hagonoy, Labasan and Taguig Wawa ran out of fuel and had to shut down operations.
“This time we conducted inspections and made sure that there will be no shortage of fuel for the pumping stations,” Mayor Lani said.
According to Taguig City Social Welfare and Development Office (SWDO), there are now a total of 22 evacuation centers from yesterday’s 12 due to the increase of the number of people affected by the floods.
The evacuation centers are as follows:
- Brgy. New Lower Bicutan – RP Cruz Elementary School and DMAC Covered Court
- Brgy. Hagonoy – Hagonoy covered court
- Brgy. Lower Bicutan – My House Barangay Hall
- Brgy. Katuparan – Diosdado Macapagal High School
- Brgy. Fort Bonifacio – Sitio 3 Health Center
- Brgy. Western Bicutan – Tenement Elementary School
- Brgy. Bagumbayan – CP Sta. Teresa Elementary School, Cayetano Complex and Gawad Kalinga
- Maharlika Village – Maharlika Trade Center
- Brgy. Ususan – Cayetano Science High School and Ususan Elementary School
- Brgy. San Miguel – Serenity
- Brgy. Wawa – Mormons
- Brgy. Palingon-Tipas – Tipas Elementary
- Brgy. Ligid-Tipas – Barangay hall and Cayetano covered court
- Brgy. Ibayo-Tipas – Tipas Elementary
- Brgy. Sta. Ana – Taguig Elem. School
- Brgy. Calzada-Tipas – Tipas Elem. Annex
- Brgy. Napindan – Napindan Elementary
Likewise, Taguig Rep. Lino Cayetano along with Mayor Lani helped in preparing relief goods to be distributed to flood victims, both for those in the evacuation centers and outside.
“The safety of every Taguiguenos has always been our priority. We are exerting numerous efforts to make sure that they are given the proper attention,” Mayor Lani said.
Also the CSWD made sure that every evacuee was given something warm to eat and medicine. They also provided mats and blankets along with coffee, cupcakes, biscuits and bottled waters.
In coordination with Smart Communications Inc., a “Libreng Tawag” booth was also set up in select evacuation centers to provide the people with means to communicate with their friends and relatives free of charge.
The Taguig medical team also provided free medical consultation and free medicines particularly to children and the elderly.
Today, there will be a relief and medicine distribution outside the evacuation centers. The city will also provide breakfast for the evacuees. Also, Mayor Lani and Rep. Lino will be going to different evacuation centers to visit the evacuees.
“We will continue to monitor the situation of our residents especially those in evacuation centers. We will make sure that they are provided with their needs,” Mayor Lani said.