ORANI, Bataan- A former member of the House of Representatives on Wednesday advised local government units to institute continuous disaster-preparedness programs to lessen deaths during typhoons, floods and other calamities.
Cynthia Villar, former congresswoman of Las Piñas City, said LGUS should also be ready with needed equipment to help residents in cases of calamities.
She said that residents should be taught through proper and rigid trainings on what to do when disasters strike. “According to studies, walang nadidisgrasya kapag nakahanda ang mga tao,” she said.
She noted that almost yearly during typhoons and heavy floods, many deaths are recorded like what happened during typhoon Pablo’s fury in Campostella Valley.
“Dapat itinuturo sa mga tao kung saan pupunta kapag may kalamidad. Dapat alam nila ang evacuation centers.
Kapag may bagyo hindi dapat lumabas sa dagat at dapat pigilan sila,” Villar said.
She said that in Las Piñas, she founded the Red Cross that conducts all programs in disaster risk management. “And we have bancas ready na kapag may nangyari may masasakyan kami,” the former congresswoman said.
Villar and former Senate Pres. Manuel Villar were in their ancestral house in Orani. The senator’s mother is from the fishing town.
“Every year during the first week of December, we are here to distribute presents to our neighbors before my husband’s birthday on December 13,” she said.
They handed gifts to 1,500 children and adults.
Provincial officials led by Gov. Enrique Garcia met the couple.
