DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 28 December)— The City Government of Mati aims to donate P800,000 worth of rice to their neighboring municipality of Caraga, Davao Oriental, which was badly hit by Tropical Storm “Kabayan.”
In a Facebook Live interview Tuesday, Mati Mayor Michelle Nakpil Rabat said that the money for the rice donation will be from their own disaster fund.
“Mati City has allocated P800,000 from its own disaster fund to provide assistance to the affected residents in Caraga, Davao Oriental… this is because this is [Caraga Mayor Ronie Osnan’s] preference, as rice is deemed more suitable to help the people in that area,” Rabat said in vernacular.
Rabat said that she already informed the City Disaster Council, as now the donation currently awaits approval from the City Council.
Rabat said that the donation will be one of their assistance to the municipality, responding to Osnan’s request to help them to recover from “Kabayan.
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Aside from rice, the Mati LGU also sent a team and heavy equipment to Barangay Pichon, Caraga on December 22 to help with the clearing and rehabilitation of the typhoon’s devastation. “Because Mayor [Osnan] said that they need help from us … because their roads have been severed and submerged in floodwaters,” Rabat said.
“Kabayan” made its landfall in Barangay Concepcion in Manay, an adjacent municipality of Caraga, on December 18, with around 1,500 families residing in vulnerable areas of Davao Oriental severely affected.
Earlier, the disaster risk reduction and management office of the Department of Agriculture in the Davao Region initially reported that the damaged rice fields due to the tropical depression covered 892 hectares of rice fields in Davao de Oro and 665.
8 hectares in Davao Oriental.
(Ian Carl Espinosa / MindaNews)