Typhoon-related gov’t aid sought

PHILIPPINE Senators have called on the government to continue its support for people affected by a string of weather disturbances last week.

In a statement on Sunday, Senator Erwin T. Tulfo called for urgent support for fisherfolks affected by the recent storms even if they were not directly affected by floods.

“When there are typhoons, or even bad weather, this means zero livelihood for a day or weeks for our fishermen. They will have nothing to feed themselves and their families throughout weather disturbances,” Mr. Tulfo added.

Mr. Tulfo said that he is looking to meet with the departments of Social Welfare and Development, Agriculture, and Labor and Employment to ensure that fisherfolk are not left behind whenever there’s inclement weather.

Senator Christopher Lawrence “Bong” T. Go also called for the implementation of hazard pay for disaster frontliners.

“We know that our country is prone to disasters. Therefore, it is only right that we have concern for our frontliners who are the first to respond to every disaster,” he said separately.

Mr. Go previously filed Senate Bill No. 669, which seeks to grant hazard pay to personnel directly involved in disaster response.

Meanwhile, Senator Sherwin T. Gatchalian called on the Education department to sustain learning activity following the prolonged suspension of classes.

Classes were subsequently suspended or shifted to alternative learning modes due to inclement weather.

“We need, however, to sustain learning recovery efforts, especially as prolonged class suspensions threaten to aggravate learning loss,” he said in a statement also on Sunday.

Last week, the southwest monsoon and a series of storms brought heavy rains that flooded large portions of the Philippines, including the capital region.

This caused the death of about 30 people and had affected at least 3.8 million people, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council. — Adrian H. Halili