BY GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Rep. Francisco Benitez thanked Mayor Evelio Leonardia yesterday for the P3.5 million assistance that the Bacolod City government will extend to flood-affected residents, in the three cities and one municipality in the 3rd district of Negros Occidental.
The cities of Talisay, Silay, and Victorias will get P1 million each, while the municipality of EB Magalona will receive P500,000.
The four flood-affected local government units have been placed under a state of calamity by their respective Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Councils, as concurred in by their city and town sanggunians.
Leonardia earlier commended the Bacolod Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council for the quick response and approval of his request for assistance to neighbors of Bacolod City.
He said the resolution of the Bacolod DRRMC will be submitted the Sangguniang Panlungsod for ratification.
Mayor Francis Frederick Palanca also thanked the provincial government of Negros Occidental for sending its amphibious excavator to help in the dredging of clogged waterways in Victorias City. The excavator arrived in Victorias on Jan. 15 and will clear the mouth of the Carugiat Creek, while the amphibious excavator of the Department of Public Works and Highways has been clearing the creek from the national highway.*