Residents of Albay province are in need of housing materials to build temporary shelters following the onslaught of Super Typhoon “Rolly,” Vice President Leni Robredo said.
On Tuesday, Robredo went to three Albay towns—Tabaco, Tiwi, and Guinobatan— to assess the devastation left by Rolly and distributed relief items.
The damage to infrastructure had not only left the province without power but it had also toppled communication lines.
In Bolo, Tiwi, residents told Robredo they evacuated to a nearby church but it also lost its roof at the height of the typhoon.
“I was asking them what they most need at the moment. Most of them said, laminated sacks, which they can use as roof and walls for the temporary houses that they will build,” she said in a Facebook post.
During her visit, Robredo was accompanied by Tiwi Mayor Ami Villanueva and village Captain Benito Cilot.
“They were hoping that a national government housing project that has long been planned will finally come into fruition so that they wouldn’t have to suffer this same fate over and over again,” she said.
The vice president, who is a Bicolano, also showed how the houses and properties were torn apart by Rolly in Tabaco and Guinobatan. She went live on her Facebook account to show the damage.
Robredo was seen checking on affected families at a river which overflowed due to the typhoon onslaught.
“Good thing they were able to evacuate because if not, there were many casualties,” she said in Filipino.
At least 24 persons were killed after Rolly struck Bicol and Southern Luzon regions. Of this number, 17 fatalities were recorded in Albay.
In San Franciso, Guinobatan, Robredo reported there were 230 households affected and four missing after debris from mudslides swept down the village.
Still, she lauded the local officials for the pre-emptive evacuation of residents which resulted to less number of deaths in the area.
Before her visit to Albay, Robredo was also in Rolly-hit parts of Catanduanes and Camarines Sur, her home province.