Lakas-Kampi CMD senatorial bet Silvestre Bello III Monday asked Malacañang to immediately send medical and rehabilitation teams to Chile which had been devastated by an intensity 8.8 earthquake.

Bello, a former justice secretary, said the kind gesture should be taken as a responsibility of the country as member of the international community.

"We know what it’s like to be hit by natural calamities. They are in dire need of help right now and I think we should give them the best assistance that we could provide," said Bello .

He added, “this should not be taken as a form of payback because we have been a frequent beneficiary of foreign assistance programs in the past due to disasters that hit us.”

Over 200 persons have been confirmed dead following the deadly earthquake that hit Chile on Saturday. The Chilean government admitted that they expect the number of casualties to increase as they pursue search and rescue operations in the country.

While the Philippines cannot give much on financial assistance, Bello said that the country could provide manpower for medical operations and rehabilitation following reports that a lot of buildings and establishments collapsed as a result of the tremor.

Bello, however, said that he will leave to the proper authorities the proper coordination with regard to the deployment of Philippine humanitarian team to Chile.

The senatorial candidate said the Philippines had also sent medical and rescue teams to Haiti which was recently hit by a strong earthquake.

Meanwhile, administration senatorial bets Mayor Ramon Guico of Binalonan, Pangasinan and lawyer Raul Lambino proposed the creation of a national commission that would be tasked to map out strategies in cushioning the impact of the El Niño phenomenon.

Guico, president of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines, said the El Nino Commission will have a funding of its own which will be incorporated in the annual national budget.

The Lakas-Kampi-CMD senatorial bet explained that the commission’s entire budget will be spent in preemptive and emergency operations aimed at assisting farmers cope with the effects of dry spell.

“We have to live with the fact that the El Niño phenomenon will haunt us every year as a result of climate change. It is already a permanent problem, so we need a permanent solution to deal with it,” Guico said.