House to raise P1.5M via salary deduction for Batanes relief operations
Credit to Author: The Manila Times| Date: Tue, 30 Jul 2019 06:44:11 +0000
MEMBERS of the House of Representatives will donate P1.5 million from their salaries as their contribution for relief operations in quake-hit Batanes.
Lawmakers on Monday have each agreed to donate at least P5,000 from their salaries as voluntary minimum contribution after they adopted House Resolution 139 condoling with the victims and calling on the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) to expedite assistance to the affected areas.
“This is just the minimum amount pegged by the House resolution. The contribution may even reach P3 million up to P5 million as some congressmen have indicated willingness to donate P50,000 to P100,000 from their salary,” Romualdez said.
The 18th Congress has at least 300 lawmaker-members.
It was House Deputy Majority Leader and Pangasinan Rep. Christopher de Venecia who manifested before the plenary about the “signature sheet” that shall be circulated to his colleagues where they could write the amount of their voluntary contributions.
“I just spoke with the Speaker (Alan Peter Cayetano) about the Batanes fund drive. It (contribution) has been the practice whenever a district is hard-hit by a calamity, in this case Batanes. This voluntary effort on the part of the congressmen to contribute has been done in the past through salary deduction. This has been initiated for the benefit of the casualties’ loved ones and injured residents of Batanes,” said House Majority Leader and Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez.
The Itbayat municipal council declared the town under a state of calamity on Monday, two days after a 5.4-magnitude and a 5.9-magnitude quake hit Batanes, leaving 9 dead and 60 injured and damaging homes and other major infrastructure. GLEE JALEA