President Benigno S. Aquino III once again appealed to the people of Bohol to go home so that their lives could go back to normal. The President, who spent a night in Loon town last week, said the Phivolcs has already made an assurance that there will be no repeat of the magnitude 7.2 quake that happened on Oct. 15. Meanwhile, Gov. Edgar M. Chatto has also encouraged Boholanos whose homes were not severely affected by the quake to return to their houses and start moving on. Chatto said the Provincial Government of Bohol would continue to conduct relief operations until all earth victims in Bohol would have been provided with sufficient resources to rebuild their interrupted lives. Although aftershocks will continue in the coming weeks, the full strength of the slipping fault has already been released so there will be no strong quake, Chatto said.

To the people fearing the presence of sinkholes in many parts of Bohol, Aquino said there is an ongoing mapping using ground penetrating radar, which is scheduled to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2014. But the mapping will be finished ahead of schedule, in the first quarter of 2014 because there are also ongoing studies being done for the construction of the Panglao airport. “Sa pamamagitan ninyo (media) mag-aapela na rin ako, marami tayong mga kababayan nag-alala doon sa bahay nila; nasa loob ng tent, nasa evacuation centers,” the President said. “Inulit-ulit natin kay governor, sa ating mga mayor, kung pwedeng pagtulungan kasama ng DPWH, dumaan ‘yung mga structural engineer, mga municipal engineer, electrical engineer, masigurado kung ligtas ang bawat tahanan.”

The people will be exposed to harm with their prolonged stay in the tent, and the President said he fears an outbreak of disease if the people continue to stay there. “So ‘yon ang pakiusap natin. Hindi naman mag-aala-tsamba, ipaaral natin sa mga dalubhasa, at kung ligtas na ay dapat sana mabalikan ‘yung mga tahanan.” Meanwhile, Malacanang said that the national government’s relief efforts coursed through the social welfare agency have cost the government more than P52 million. According to DSWD Secretary Corazon J. Soliman, the P52.6 M of food and non-food assistance came from the combined resources of DSWD, Local Government Units (LGUs) and Non-Government Organizations (NGOs). Soliman said 367 evacuation centers are still open and serving a total 68,535 families or 344,919 displaced individuals which are served both inside and outside evacuation centers. Soliman said about 182 families whose members died caused by the earthquake had received P10,000.00 each financial assistance from DSWD.

The total burial assistance amounted to P1.82 million.

She also expressed gratitude for United States Agency for International Development (USAID) for the hygiene kits which were turned over to the displaced families in the evacuation centers as part of the effort to maintain the hygiene of those seeking temporary shelter. She said she was happy that USAID and other humanitarian aid partners for helping the country cope up with the devastating effects of the earthquake. Aside from the hygiene kits, she added two US military water purification units were also transported to Bohol and are now being operated by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) engineers to produce fresh drinking waters for the earthquake-hit towns. The DSWD chief cited that for the past five years, the United States, through USAid had provided a total of 3.4 Billion humanitarian assistance that helps the Philippines in preparing and responding to disasters.