MANILA, Philippines – Vice President Leni Robredo is set to personally distribute donations to residents of Bicol who were affected by the onslaught of Typhoon Tisoy (Kammuri).

On Wednesday, December 4, the Vice President said her staff members began assessing the extent of damage in Albay, Sorsogon, and her home province Camarines Sur, which were among the hardest hit by Tisoy.  

Robredo plans to visit and give relief to the typhoon-hit provinces in Bicol on Saturday, December 7.

“Iyong nandoon ngayon na team namin, bukas mag-o-augment kami. May paalis tonight kasi hindi talaga kinakaya sa lawak ng lugar. Pero sa weekend, nandoon ako. Hopefully dala na namin iyong mga pangangailangan by that time,” Robredo said in an ambush interview at the Ateneo de Manila University in Quezon City.

(Tomorrow we will augment the team we’ve already sent there. Another team is going there tonight because the area is vast. But during the weekend, I’ll be there. Hopefully we will already be bringing all their needs by then.)

Robredo said private organizations which are partners of her flagship anti-poverty program Angat Buhay are already giving pledges to provide housing materials and potable drinking water to the typhoon victims. 

“Iyong number one talagang kinakailangan iyong housing materials, kasi dahil nga sa dami ng nagibaan ng bahay. So ngayon, kami kasi ino-augment namin iyong aming resources with resources from our partners. So ngayon ang iniipon talaga namin for housing materials saka iyong drinking water,” said the Vice President. 

(Housing materials are the number one thing they need, because a lot of people’s homes were destroyed. So we’re augmenting our resources with the resources from our partners. We’re gathering funds for housing materials and drinking water right now.)

Tisoy left a trail of destruction after it made landfall 4 times beginning Monday night, December 2, until Tuesday, December 3. Bicol was the hardest-hit region, with at least 162,122 Bicolanos displaced by the typhoon.

Several local government units have declared a state of calamity, including Sorsogon, Albay, Naga City in Camarines Sur, and Naujan in Occidental Mindoro. – Rappler.com