HEAVY rains and floods prevented the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) from distributing relief goods for the victims of Typhoon "Carina" (international name: "Gaemi").
Efforts by personnel from the PCSO to immediately provide relief goods and other assistance to the affected families and individuals on Wednesday, July 24, were thwarted, after heavy monsoon rains brought widespread flooding in Metro Manila and many other provinces in Luzon.
The PCSO team, led by General Manager (GM) Melquiades "Mel" Robles, had planned to conduct a relief drive in the Camanava (Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas and Valenzuela City) area on Wednesday. However, due to some impassable roads, they were forced to return to the office.
"We were literally stopped in our tracks by the heavy rains and massive flooding from bringing relief goods and other assistance to the victims, especially those in the Camanava area," GM Robles said in an interview.
He added that the PCSO team had already prepared the relief goods as early as Tuesday afternoon, which were placed in plastic water pails, called "Charitimba," for distribution, shortly after Malacañang ordered the suspension of work in government offices.
The PCSO would proceed with the distribution of relief goods on Thursday, July 25, together with the authorized agency corporations (AACs) that expressed willingness to participate in the relief operations.
PCSO GM also instructed all PCSO branches and small-town lottery AACs to conduct immediate relief drives in areas affected by the southwest monsoon and Typhoon "Carina."
The directive came after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. issued an order to all frontline agencies to ensure timely assistance to families affected by the recent calamities.
"I have instructed our branch offices to coordinate with local government units for a swifter and smoother distribution of groceries and food packs to the affected families," GM Robles stated.
The contributions from various organizations and AACs for the relief efforts included Hit It Big Gaming Corp. in Cagayan (200 groceries), Pines Estate and Gaming Corp. in Benguet and Baguio City STL-AAC (30 sacks of rice), Caloocan AAC (10 cavans of rice), Grand 888 AAC (100 packs of groceries), Great Mind Games and Amusement Corp. in Muntinlupa (groceries for 900 families), Ludis Bay AAC in Caloocan (10 cavans of rice), Pluto AAC in Manila (relief goods for 500 families), Tiger Claws AAC in Pasay (relief goods for 300 families), IRIS ACC in Las Pinas (relief goods), Winning Pick AAC in Malabon (relief goods) and Lucent AAC in Quezon City (relief goods).
In a related development, the PCSO was scheduled to conduct a corporate social responsibility activity on July 25 after the 2 p.m. draw. During this event, they would distribute groceries, soup and bread to those in need.
A state of calamity was declared in the National Capital Region by the Metro Manila Council on Wednesday, following the massive flooding, caused by the southwest monsoon or habagat, which was exacerbated by tropical cyclone "Carina."
The declaration came after a meeting by Metro Manila mayors, presided by Interior and Local Government Secretary Benhur Abalos, which would enable the local government units to access emergency funds swiftly and implement relief operations to aid the displaced residents.
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