AS A GESTURE of sympathy and support to the millions of victims of super typhoon “Yolanda”, the provincial government of Tarlac will forgo its traditional Christmas Party scheduled this holiday season.
The capitol, has announced, in a department head meeting on November 20, that it would cancel its Christmas party and instead donate the entire annual festivity budget to the typhoon victims.
In a statement, Governor Victor Yap said that the annual Christmas party for provincial government employees would be canceled with the money be donated to the province’s relief drive.
“We decided to cancel the annual Christmas party as a gesture of sympathy to the millions of victims of the super typhoon…we will donate the money to them so that we can at least help in the rebuilding of the lives of those who became unfortunate victims of this natural calamity,” Yap said.
Super typhoon “Yolanda” [international codename Haiyan], devastated central Philippines on November 9 packing maximum sustained winds of more than 300kph. The super storm is considered as the strongest typhoon ever to make landfall in recorded history.
On October 12, Tarlac province was likewise devastated by typhoon “Santi” [packing maximum sustained winds of 150kph with gustiness up to 185kph] that prompted Yap and the Tarlac provincial board to place the entire province under state-of-calamity. “Santi” destroyed millions of pesos worth of infrastructure and agricultural crops and has put the entire province without electricity for several days.
The provincial government of Tarlac has likewise launched “TawidTulongVisayas”, a relief effort drive for the victims of “Yolanda.”
“This is our own little way of helping our brothers and sisters in the Visayas region. I hope that with the concerted effort being done not only by our national government but by the international community as well, their sufferings will somehow ease especially this coming holiday season,” Yap said.
