Benguet gets P14.8 million aid from US

TUBLAY, Benguet -- The United States has extended its support to this province, announcing July 25 $340,000 (P14.8 million) in new grants in support of disaster risk reduction activities in five local governments.

US Embassy Deputy Chief of Mission Brian Goldbeck said the grants through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) will also benefit the University of the Philippines-Baguio and the local People’s Initiative for Learning and Community Development in this province.

A day earlier Gov. Nestor Fongwan and municipal mayors from the concerned towns welcomed US Ambassador Philip S. Goldberg, who was in town to inaugurate the Emergency Operations Center in Tublay.

“We are committed to working with the Philippine government to strengthen the capacity of communities to mitigate, prepare for, and respond to natural disasters and to increase resilience to global climate change,” Goldberg said.

The setting up of the Municipal Risk Reduction Disaster Center was part of the P6.2-million grant from the USAID through the World Food Programme (WFP) released in 2011 for this town.