MANILA, Philippines — As Christmas parties and gift-giving for poor citizens in localities are being held in this Central Luzon, the Regional Development Council in Region 3 appealed on Thursday to RDC members to share their salaries or allowances with tropical storm “Sendong” victims in northern Mindanao.

Mayor Rodriguez of San Fernando City, Pampanga, also RDC chairman, said: “Central Luzon lived through a similar calamity barely two months ago and the people of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan generously donated food and clothing. Now it is time for us to reciprocate their good deeds.”

Rodriguez, also president of City Mayors League of the Philippines, instructed the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Regional Office, which serves as the RDC 3 secretariat, to gather and take account of all donations. The donations will be sent in the name of the people of Central Luzon.

For more inquiries, please contact NEDA in the following numbers: (045) 963-6772, 963-6773 or 961-3902.

RDC 3 is the highest policy-making body in the region and serves as the counterpart of the NEDA Board at the subnational level.

It is the primary institution that coordinates and sets the direction of all economic and social development efforts in the region and serves as a forum where local efforts can be related and integrated with national development activities.

Council members include all governors, city mayors, municipal mayors of capital towns, presidents of municipal mayors league, regional directors of national government agencies and representatives from the private sector.

Meanwhile, The Lions Clubs International Foundation (LCIF) has offered on Thursday the Lions of Mindanao (District 301-E) the total amount of US$35,000 to supplement the local funds raised by the Philippine Lions to further assist the people directly affected by Sendong.

“We hope that this amount will assist the Lions in continuing their relief efforts since we know that the current situation in Cagayan de Oro City and Iligan City is particularly severe,” wrote Ms. Jindalle Beeck, the LCIF Humanitarian Programs Department’s Regional Program Specialist for Asia, Southeast Asia, and Oceania, in a letter to District 301-E Governor Adrian Lambo and Past International Director Michael So.

Multiple District 301 (Philippines) Council Chairperson Robert Roque Jr., meanwhile, urged the members, numbering to more than 12,000, to do their share, through their clubs and districts, in extending assistance to the victims.

In Tarlac, some 3,000 indigent residents were the recipients of the Christmas gift-giving activity from Filipino-Chinese businessmen in Tarlac.

Dubbed as “Pamaskong Handog Para Sa Tarlaqueño," the event was held at simple rites at the City Plazuela in Barangay Poblacion by the Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce after several members of the said organization went house-to-house look for “the poorest of the poor” in the community.

The recipients were given a few cash and several grocery items.