Clean-up holiday in metro ordered

MANILA - President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on Tuesday ordered the drafting of an executive order for a massive clean-up holiday in Metro Manila.

Mrs. Arroyo gave the order to Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera during the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) briefing at Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City.

The order came after Environment Secretary Lito Atienza suggested during the briefing that Malacañang ask metro mayors to exercise their power to "declare a holiday for a massive sanitation and clean-up day."

"There is a very serious condition now existing [in Metro Manila]," Atienza told the President during the briefing.

Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro said in a press conference that the massive clean-up day will be declared a special non-working day.

Teodoro said Malacañang has yet to set a date for the metro clean-up, but suggested that it may be scheduled within the week.

He added that the NDCC, which he concurrently heads, will relay details of the massive clean-up day to the mayors.

Volunteers' brigade

Mrs. Arroyo, meanwhile, ordered the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to mobilize a volunteers' brigade that would help in the massive clean-up.

She also asked the DILG to delegate to all barangay officials the responsibility of handling evacuation centers in their respective areas.

The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) has suspended classes at the tertiary level in Metro Manila, Southern Tagalog region and parts of Central Luzon until Saturday.

The Department Education has also declared that classes in elementary and high school will remain suspended until Wednesday.

During the briefing, Teodoro said Metro Manila and the Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon) areas are the worst-hit by tropical storm Ondoy.

The NDCC has confirmed a total of 240 people dead in floods and landslides that hit Luzon on Saturday.

Of the 240 people dead, 101 were recorded in Metro Manila and 88 in Rizal province.

It added that 37 people remain missing and 1.87 million people were affected by the storm.

The agency said 374,890 people were sheltered in 607 makeshift evacuation camps and schools around Metro Manila, Rizal and other areas in Luzon placed by the government under a state of national calamity.

The cost of damages to property and crops by Ondoy has also risen to P2.33 billion, the NDCC added.