Thank God for the United States!

Saturday afternoon after Typhoon Yolanda pounded Central Visayas, I received a call from my cousin, Leyte 1st District Congressman Martin Romualdez, who described in a choking voice the overwhelming destruction in Leyte as “completely ravaged,” relaying that another cousin, Tacloban Mayor Alfred Romualdez, almost lost his life and that his wife and children also had a very close call.

Martin asked me if I had contact with the US Embassy because his immediate assessment was that the massive damage was simply too much that it would require airlifts for rescue units to reach the worst hit barangays, and that airdrops would be the fastest way to deliver relief items and goods most especially to hard-to-reach areas.

I patched Martin in a conference call to the US Embassy Military Attaché – Air Force Col. Rick Matton – who advised us they would need a formal request from the Philippine government.

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