STO. TOMAS, Pampanga- With already over 700 reported killed by typhoon Pablo in Mindanao, this town has pushed its major coffin manufacturing industry full blast to fill in the worsening shortage in the devastated areas.
“We motored about 110 wooden coffins to Villamor Air Base last Thursday and more are sought by the provincial government and the Pampanga Mayors’ League (PML) to help the affected areas,” Edwin Manalese, this town’s municipal administrator, told Punto.
Another 240 coffins were brought to Villamor at 4 p.m. Friday and were flown by the Philippine Air Force to the worst hit areas in Davao and Compostela Valley.
“Gov. Lilia Pineda and the mayors have pooled resources to purchase the coffins from our commercial and backyard manufacturers who are now working in shifts to produce more,” Manalese said.
Neither Pineda nor PML president Candaba Mayor Jerry Pelayo could be contacted for more details on the project, but they were said to have raised the funds for the coffin purchases, as facilitated by this town’s former mayor Lucas Arceo, himself a coffin manufacturer.
Manalese said the coffins for Mindanao were made of wood and were sold at a special “manufacturer’s price” of P2,500 to P3,000 each.
He said there are about 50 commercial and backyard manufacturers in this town, with the latter doing sub-contracting jobs for the commercial makers.
“Pottery used to be our top industry here but our potteries have been overwhelmed in the foreign market by cheaper ones from China. Now, coffin making had become our number one industry,” he added, although he could not immediately cite figures on how much income the industry provides the local government.
Last year in the aftermath of typhoon Sendong, local coffin makers were also the source of some 500 coffins deployed by the provincial government and the PML for victims in Cagayan de Oro City.
Manalese could not immediately say how many more local coffins would be deployed to Mindanao, but added that with local manufacturers doubling efforts, they could be able to provide scores of coffins at any given time.
“We came out with the first batch of 110 coffins last Thursday after we were told about the need only the day before,” he noted.
As of yesterday, the number of deaths in the wake of typhoon Pablo rose to over 700 with damage to property and crops estimated at P8 billion, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said.
Most of the fatalities were from the hardest-hit areas of Davao Oriental and Compostela Valley, mostly victims of floods and mudslides.
