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SC releases assistance fund for ‘Odette’-hit court personnel

Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo has ordered the release of assistance funds to court personnel in areas affected by the onslaught of Typhoon Odette.

In a press statement on Wednesday, the Supreme Court (SC) said it also continues to monitor all its personnel, including those who have volunteered to assist in the bar examinations next month.

“The Chief Justice has approved the release of calamity assistance to affected court personnel. All the members of the Court have, on their own and as a group, made donations or helped out in the relief efforts,” the high court added.

As a gesture of “sympathy and in the spirit of the season,” the SC has ordered that all Christmas lights in all courts nationwide and its official residences in Baguio City be turned off until power supply is restored in the typhoon-affected areas, including Bohol, Surigao del Norte, and the Dinagat Islands, which will still be without power this Christmas.

As of Monday, damage and losses in agriculture in the regions of Calabarzon, Bicol, Western Visayas, Central Visayas, Eastern Visayas, Zamboanga Peninsula, Central Mindanao, Davao, and Caraga have amounted to PHP362.3 million, affecting 12,906 farmers and fishers, with the volume of production loss at 20,319 metric tons and 23,438 hectares of agricultural areas but are still subject to validation, according to the Department of Agriculture.

Affected commodities include rice, corn, high-value crops, and fisheries.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees office in the Philippines, which is working with the Department of Social Welfare and Development, said on its website that nearly 490,000 persons were displaced by the recent calamity.

Source: Philippines News Agency