IN BRIEF

50 families moved out of Mayon PDZ

FIFTY families still living within Mt. Mayon six-kilometer permanent danger zone (PDZ) were evacuated amid the volcano’s continued unrest, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) said Sunday.

Social welfare workers from DSWD’s Bicol field office and Disaster Response Management Division found the families in Barangay Anoling, one of the geographically-isolated areas in Camalig town in Albay.

DSWD FO 5 Regional Director Norman Laurio said the evacuated families would be temporarily sheltered at the Baligang Elementary School.

The Camalig Municipal Police Station, the Municipal Social Welfare and Development Office, and the Municipal Disaster Response and Management Office of the Camalig local government unit conducted the forced evacuation.

Mayon registered 26 volcanic earthquakes and 303 rockfall events over the past 24 hours, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said on Sunday.

Pia Cayetano seeks more CL bike lanes

TO PROMOTE active mobility among Filipinos, Senator Pia Cayetano wants the government to allocate more bike lanes.

The senator, an avid cyclist, is fully supportive of the creation of more bike lanes, not just in Metro Manila, but also in the provinces and other regions in the country such as Central Luzon.

Cayetano aired her full support for the ongoing construction of 37.5 kilometers of bike lanes in San Fernando, Pampanga, a joint project of the Department of Transportation (DOTr) and the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

The senator said she is very happy that in Central Luzon, there are cities like San Fernando and Angeles which already have bike lanes.

She also said that cycling is also being actively promoted in the province of Tarlac, “I am very happy to hear the news about the construction of several kilometers of bike lanes,” said the senator during a visit to Pampanga.

Macon

Ramos-Araneta

Coast Guardians now in 4PH plan

THE Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development and the Philippine Coast Guard have agreed to enroll Coast Guardians among the priority beneficiaries of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s Pambansang Pabahay para sa Pilipino (4PH) Program.

This was the subject of a memorandum of agreement between DHSUD Secretary Jose Rizalino Acuzar and PCG officer in charge Vice Admiral Rolando Punzalan Jr. during the former’s visit to PCG Headquarters in Manila.

The MOA, the first among the country’s uniformed services, formalizes the inclusion of PCG personnel in the 4PH Program initially targeting 2,000 Coast Guard personnel as beneficiaries.

Punzalan welcomed the partnership as a huge boost to the morale and welfare program of the PCG. Rio N. Araja