DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 22 July 2026) — The municipal council of Jose Abad Santos, Davao Occidental has allocated ₱12.41 million under its Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Fund to respond to the damage caused by the Magnitude 7.8 earthquake last June and the floods that followed.
The amount was approved a week after a botched session, which was reportedly not continued as JAS Vice Mayor James John A. Joyce was unable to preside.
JAS Mayor Jason John Joyce said in a Facebook post that ₱8.7 million of this fund will go to the purchase of safe and accessible relocation sites following the quake in June and the series of flash floods in July. (Mayor Jason John is the elder brother; both mayor and vice mayor are children of former JAS Mayor James Y. Joyce.)
The ₱8.7 million comes from the ₱10-million budget under rehabilitation and recovery, scheduled for the third and fourth quarter of 2026. The remaining ₱1.3 million, is allocated for the rehabilitation of the Barangay Caburan Small municipal gymnasium.
A total of ₱2.41 million was set aside for third-quarter disaster response operations, including labor for transferring relief goods, trucking services, fuel for delivery and assessment activities, meals for emergency personnel, and supplies for relief distribution and camp management.
Vice Mayor Joyce, in a separate post, said the local government would also consider loans to purchase heavy equipment to address multiple landslides and flash floods in several barangays since June 8.
The municipality still continues to experience aftershocks.
In a Messenger chat, Mayor Joyce said the municipality was exploring loans for more heavy equipment and rescue vehicles to help clean up flash floods and landslides across various parts of JAS.
Vice Mayor Joyce said that the proposed ₱12.4 million was not approved at the previous week’s regular session as several council members wanted to ask department heads and barangay officials.
“Naay mga gusto klarohon ang atong mga SB members ug gusto nila maka hinabi ang mga [department heads] na incharge sa pag gunit sa budget sa calamity funds ug mga donation” (Our SB members wanted to clarify some things, and they wanted to talk to the department heads responsible in handling the budget for calamity funds and donations), Vice Mayor Joyce said.
The department heads were able to attend Tuesday’s session.
As of July 22, the tropical cyclone that followed a month after the earthquake has affected 2,489 families, and 457 households are still residing in temporary evacuation shelters. Four have died, six are missing, and one was injured.
There have been 489 totally damaged homes and 147 partially damaged.
One person with disability was swept away by flash floods evening of July 14 in Sitio Kibatang in Barangay Sugal. (Yas D. Ocampo / MindaNews)
