MANILA, Phjilippines-Members of the Manila parliament planning to watch the next world fight of Philippine pride and pound-for-pound champion Rep. Manny Pacquiao are told by a concerned group to drop the trip, and instead spend the money they would spend for the Pacquiao-Margarito boxing bout to newest victims of heavy rain and mass flooding in Central and Northern Luzon provinces.
In a press statement, Pamalakaya fisherfolk alliance national chair Fernando Hicap said the sorry condition of farmers, fisherfolk and rural people in these two provinces devastated by continuous heavy rains, flood and landslides should be the main concern of lawmakers.
The Pamalakaya leader suggested congressmen should give Pacquiao a note of support and solidarity message, Hicap said members of the House of Representatives will sign and give to Rep. Pacquiao is enough to show the collective support to the Filipino boxing champion going for his 8th world crown title in 15 years of boxing career.
?Six people died, including a 5-month old baby in Isabela due to continuous heavy rain, mass flooding and landslides. The congressmen should be sensitive enough to prioritize the need of our people quit from pursuing a pleasure trip while the country is suffering from calamity after calamity and disaster after disaster,? said Hicap.
The camp of Pacquiao revealed that 54 members of the House of Representatives will fly to Texas, USA to watch the Pacquiao-Margarito fight, but it did not divulge the names of these congressmen. It said more congressmen and other personalities will come to watch the boxing match and provide moral support to Rep. Pacquiao.
The big number of congressmen and other Filipino personalities who are expected to watch Pacquiao-Margarito fight in Arlington, Texas prompted Pacquiao?s camp to charter a bigger plane to accommodate his colleagues in the House of Representatives.
Citing last week report from National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), the Pamalakaya official said a total of 813 families had already been relocated due to heavy rain and flooding in Central and Northern Luzon.
Of the 813 families evacuated, 668 families or 3,361 persons were from Casiguran town in Aurora province. Hicap said in Isabela, 12 municipalities were affected by heavy flooding and landslides.
In Cagayan, reports said around 1,700 families or 9,000 persons were relocated in different evacuation centers due heavy rains and flooding.
?These anatomy of disaster and figures of calamity should politically and morally convince the 54 lawmakers in the House of Representatives to call off their trip to Texas and instead donate their money to buy food, clothes, medicine and other immediate relief needs of disaster and calamity victims in Isabela, Cagayan and Aurora provinces. We hope the congressmen will get our point and will refrain from dismissing our plea as wholesale killjoy,? the Pamalakaya chair stressed.
Pamalakaya said granting that each congressman will spend at least P 1 million of the US trip including hotel accommodation, the total expenses would be spent is P 54 million, and the money is substantial enough to provide immediate relief to affected people in the 12 municipalities of Isabela, several towns in Cagayan and Casiguran in Aurora province.
?P 54 million could buy 36,000 sacks of premium or well milled rice at P 1,500 per sack. That would be of big help to disaster and calamity victims in Isabela and Aurora. This socio-economic and moral equation should prod the congressmen to reconsider their Texas journey and instead attend to or address the urgency of the situation in Central and Northern Luzon,? the militant group added.
At the House of Representatives, House Speaker Feliciano ?Sonny? Belmonte said he could not remember signing any travel order for a member of Congress to watch the fight of Pacquiao.
The House? top official admitted that he signed many travel orders before the recess and a few before the House went on recess, but can?t recall any of the congressmen going to Texas to watch the boxing match. But Belmonte said in case the 54 congressmen proceed with their trip to US, they will shoulder the expenses and will be marked absent during the session which will resume on Monday, Nov.8.
