Makati to skip New Year countdown for fire, disaster victims

Makati City will cancel its traditional New Year's Eve countdown this year in the wake of the recent fire that displaced some 3,000 people there, according to Mayor Jejomar Binay. Binay said the P16 million budget allocated for the yearly program would instead be used in helping the fire victims in Bangkal village as well as the thousands of families affected by the recent cyclones in Luzon and the activities of Mayon Volcano in Albay province. “They need all the help they can get, and we are willing to extend all possible assistance to hasten their recovery from the recent disasters," Binay said in an article on the Makati City Web portal. The city has been holding an annual New Year's Eve countdown since 2004. The event has become a major draw for local and foreign visitors every December 31. But for this year, Binay, who is running for vice president in next year's elections, said it would be improper to push through with the countdown, “considering what many of our constituents as well as our brothers and sisters in other provinces are going through." Binay said the city government has set up a community kitchen and a medical team for the fire victims. Residents will also be offered new homes in a resettlement area in Cabuyao, Laguna, while those who will opt to go back to their home provinces will get financial assistance through the “Balik Probinsiya" program. Binay said the city will also extend support to typhoon-ravaged sister localities in the rehabilitation of damaged school buildings, health centers, and agricultural infrastructure. Makati will also provide relief goods and other help to residents in sister-localities in Albay affected by the impending eruption of Mayon Volcano. It will be the second time the city did away with the countdown after 2005, when it used the funds to distribute food items to poor residents. - KBK, GMANews.TV