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2GO offers free shipment of relief goods to Ormoc; Globe Telecom reconnects Tacloban

by Emmanuel Mongaya
Blogger & Journalist

“Nandito na naman tayo,” said Boy Mundo, general manager of the 2GO Group’s Cebu offices, as he presided a meeting to finalize the shipping company’s relief efforts now dubbed “Bangon Visayas” in the aftermath of super typhoon Yolanda.

In addition to helping move relief goods to Bohol, the shipping company will be transporting relief goods to Ormoc City in Leyte on board three Supercat trips daily from the port of Cebu and a cargo ship on Monday and Friday.

Another route to provide relief goods for northern Panay is also being finalized as of this writing. A 2GO ship regularly commutes the Batangas-Caticlan route.

Command center

This developed shortly after Cabinet Secretary Rene Almendras, in another meeting, announced that Cebu will serve as the command post  for a massive relief effort to areas hit by Yolanda, known internationally as super typhoon Haiyan, considered as the world’s strongest typhoon to hit land.

With Cebu as nerve center, forward command operations centers will be established in Tacloban City in Leyte and another in Western Visayas.

The Philippine Air Force has begun transporting relief goods from the air base in Mactan, Cebu to Taclocan City. Navy and coast guard boats and ships are also transporting relief goods, equipment and aid workers to affected provinces. BRP Bacolod City docked at the port of Tacloban yesterday afternoon and unloaded 140 tons of relief goods from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the Philippine Red Cross.

Communication lines

Meanwhile, Globe Social Media Team’s Tina Antonio announced that Tacloban is no longer isolated.

“Globe Telecom was able to reconnect the province of Tacloban with the rest of the world with one cell site serving critical communication requirements of the local government units and agencies involved in disaster response and coordination efforts,” revealed Antonio in an email advisory.

The temporary site was put up near Hotel Alejandro along Paterno St. in Tacloban City, in Leyte, which is among the hardest hit provinces by Typhoon Yolanda and the last isolated area where Globe mobile signals were fully disrupted.

She said restoration efforts are being accelerated in the Visayas region with the assistance of government units like the Philippine Air Force and the Philippine Navy who lent assistance in providing transport requirements for heavy network equipment that are being airlifted or shipped to critical sites including Tacloban.

Around 26 sites from Calbayog, Samar to northern Samar have also been repaired and brought back to operations. Of the total sites affected including those in southern Luzon and Mindanao, 471 sites, or 30 percent of total affected sites have already been restored. In the Visayas region, close to 20 percent of all 2G/3G sites affected have been restored.

Libreng Tawag and Libreng Charging centers are also mobilized parallel with efforts to repair base stations.

Libreng Tawag stations are in the following areas: 1) OWWA Office 3F Robinson Mall; 2) Western Visayas Cyberlink Inc. HUB Shoppers Avenue; 3) Globe Telecom JM Basa St. Iloilo.

In addition, Libreng Charging stations have been set up whereby generator sets serving the Globe cell sites are used to charge mobile phones to help residents in the area with no commercial power like Maasin, Leyte; P. Bugos, Sogod, Liloan and Bontoc in Southern Leyte; Nahulid, Talibon, Sagbayan, Alicia, Candijay, Buenavista, Inabanga, Guindulman, Bien Unido, and Jagna in Bohol.

PRworks Inc. managing director Doris Mongaya is now coordinating with the prime movers of Bangon Sugbohol to mobilize support for severely affected towns in northern Cebu.

Related stories

Cebu designated as center for Yolanda aid effort (Inquirer.net)
Businesses pitch in for Yolanda relief efforts (Philstar.com)
CNN anchor to cover Yolanda aftermath live (Interaksyon.com)
Survivors face grim struggle as death toll rise (www.cnn.com)

PRworks photos of swollen Mananga river in Talisay City, Cebu in Yolanda aftermath

2GO photos of situation in Ormoc City