Arroyo to visit flood-hit Eastern Samar on Saturday

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is scheduled to visit flood-ravaged areas in Eastern Samar province on Saturday to see for herself the effects of the damage on the residents in the region. A Malacañang statement Friday afternoon said President Arroyo will also bring relief goods and to order the immediate implementation of government intervention to rehabilitate the province. She is scheduled to arrive in Tacloban City at 10 a.m. and will take a chopper to have an aerial view of the extent of damage wrought by rains in past weeks. The chopper will land in Dolores town, where she will get a briefing from disaster management council officials on the damage. Mrs Arroyo is then expected to give P20,000 each to families of those who died in the floods and landslides. She will also bring 25,000 meals to be served to the displaced families. Initial assessment reports show that 350 of 597 villages of the province were severely affected by massive flooding, while 32,642 families or 163,604 individuals were displaced. Maslog and Jipapad towns remain isolated and underwater, even as damage to agriculture was initially placed at P64 million. - GMANews.TV