ILOILO CITY, Mar 27 (PNA) –Governor Arthur Defensor, Sr. has personally turned over 833 fishing boats to fishermen in Concepcion town on Wednesday as their start-up livelihood four months after typhoon “Yolanda” totally destroyed their source of income.
Of the number, 700 fishing boats were turned over to Brgy. Tambaliza while 133 fishing boats were also given to Brgy. Makatunao, all of the said town.
Defensor said the turned over fishing boats were part of the 1, 000 boats committed by the 1Meal Program to the province in response to his campaign “Adopt-A-Fisherman” program that aims to generate funds and donations to construct brand new motorboats for 9,000 marginalized fishermen.
Apart from this, Defensor said the province has trust fund of more than P 7 million coming from different donors and through this, he is confident to meet the target number of boats to be constructed before the year ends.
“Since there has been an overwhelming response from the private sector, we are very confident that we can reach the target,” he said.
As of February 28, 2014, records from Provincial Agriculture’s Office said that there are more than 10,000 fisher folk who lost their fishing vessels due to the super typhoon.
Defensor assured to accommodate those who will exceed the target as long as there is enough fund for the construction of boats as well as donations coming from donors.
The recent donation is P240,000 cash from Calinog Mayor Alex Centena. The funds were raised through “Linog sa Calinog”, a battle of the sounds held every February 12 of the year in celebration of the mayor’s birthday. (PNA)
PDS/AJP/MGCAOYONAN/VLO