Thai army donates P1.2M for ‘Pablo’ victims

Homeless flood survivors walk toward the gymnasium in the southern Philippine township of New Bataan in Compostela province on December 5, 2012 after the strongest typhoon Bopha pounded the island on Tuesday, leaving several deaths and and missing. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Thailand’s Royal Army has donated P1.2 million ($30,000) in aid to the Philippines to help the victims of Typhoon Pablo (international name Bopha), the worst storm to hit the country this year.

In a statement Friday, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said that Royal Thai Army Commander-in-Chief, General Prayut Chan-o-cha, personally handed the donation to Colonel Manuel Sanchez Gonzales, Defense and Armed Forces Attaché, in simple ceremonies held on December 14 at the Royal Thai Army Headquarters in Bangkok.

Gonzales was accompanied by First Secretary and Consul General Edgar Badajos of the Philippine Embassy in Bangkok, the DFA said.

In a separate statement, the Royal Thai Army also noted that it has expressed its willingness to assist the Philippine Army in its efforts to help and support the recovery mission.

The DFA earlier said that the Philippines has so far received a total of P665.8 million in financial assistance from the international community, aid agencies, various groups and individuals, and that material donations continued to arrive.

Latest reports noted that the death toll from Pablo, which battered Visayas and Mindanao in early December, rose to 1,046, while 841 remained missing.

The NDRRMC also said that damages from the onslaught of the typhoon was pegged at P24 billion,  and that P16 billion were damages from agriculture.