Buses donated for Tacloban typhoon victims

TACLOBAN CITY, Dec. 11  --  Vallacar Transit, Inc. on Sunday turned over six Ceres Liner buses to the city government here to transport families from the city’s downtown to super typhoon Yolanda resettlement sites.

Presidential Assistant for the Visayas Michael Dino and bus firm representative Gilbert Pinongcos led the turn over to Tacloban Mayor Cristina Romualdez at the city hall grounds.

“We are honored to help you in transporting your constituents. The vision of the owner of Vallacar is not only to provide employment, but also to help the needy. We hope that through this little act of kindness we are able to help you ease the problem of transportation,” Pinongcos said.

Romualdez said the donation of the bus is an early Christmas gift to the city government and to the residents of the northern resettlement sites.

More than 8,000 of the more than 14,000 families targeted to be relocated to the northern part of the city are now living in different resettlement sites.

Most of the relocated residents are fishermen from the coastal villages in San Jose district. Some of their children study in downtown, some 15 kilometers away from their new homes.

“Transportation was really a big problem when we relocated the people to the northern part of the city. We are thankful for this early Christmas gift because a lot of residents in the northern barangay like the children who are going to school will benefit from this,” Romualdez said.

The buses have been used by the city government to transport families since last year.

It happened when Dino talked with the owner of Vallacar Transit to lend six of their buses to the city government to support mass relocation activities for six months.

This is in response to President Rodrigo Duterte’s order to fast track relocation of families.

After six months, the city government sought for extension to use the lent buses as transportation remains a main problem for resettled families.

Dino recalled that when the city government asked him again for another extension, the bus owner expressed intension to donate the six buses to the city government.

“It’s all up to the LGU if how they will use it, but the primary purpose of this bus is to use for relocating families and as service for kids who are studying in the city and workers,” Dino said. (RTA/PNA)