Church eyes adopt-a-family program for Mayon evacuees

The Albay Catholic Church is set to organize an adopt-a-family program to decongest public school classrooms serving as temporary shelter for displaced families in Albay. Catholic officials said the 'Adopt a Family Evacuee Program' will be realized through the help of foster families from unaffected parishes, according to an article posted Tuesday night on the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines' news site. The announcement of the program came after Legazpi Diocese Social Action Center Director Fr. Ramoncito Segubiense attended a meeting with Albay Governor Jose Salceda and international relief agencies including United Nations Development Program, World Vision Philippines, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), World Food Program, Action Against Hunger (ACF International) and United States Agency for International Development (USAID). “We will talk to Catholic families to accommodate at least 500 families or 2,500 individuals in their homes," Salceda said. Public schools in various parts of Albay are currently housing 47,500 evacuees from within the 8-km danger zone radius. The governor is optimistic that Catholic households will accommodate the displaced families because there were already informal arrangements between relatives. Segubiense said priests will talk to leaders of various mandated organizations to facilitate the identification of foster families in their respective parishes. Segubiense added that the adopt-a-family program is supported by new Legazpi Bishop Joel Baylon. The provincial government assured that it will continue to provide the evacuees’ food requirements because they still have their “claim cards." 'Classroom tents' badly needed Salceda is hoping more donors would give out tents that could be used as temporary classrooms. He said that classes are expected to resume this coming Monday, but the local government has not enough of such tents. “We have received commitments from international NGOs for our food requirements but we have not received enough for classroom tents," the governor said in the article on the CBCP Website. UNICEF has pledged 100 tents to serve as temporary classrooms for the students, who are returning to school on Monday. According to Salceda, 600 tents are needed to accommodate all returning students, noting that the UNICEF has yet to deliver on its commitment. - with Nikka Corsino/LBG, GMANews.TV