POE: WAIVE DOCUMENT FEES FOR 'YOLANDA' VICTIMS

"Waive fees for passports, birth certificates and clearances lost and urgently needed by Typhoon 'Yolanda' victims."

This is the gist of Senate Resolution 377 filed by Sen. Grace Poe urging the Department of Foreign Affairs, the National Statistics Office and other government agencies issuing documents evidencing identity and other personal information to forego their fees for typhoon-affected citizens to aid them in employment and in the availment of government services.

"This proposed fee waiver will assist, no matter how minimal, our countrymen who are slowly recovering from the typhoon's devastation," Poe, chair of the Senate committee on public information and mass media, explained.

The senator's resolution stated, "Each and every ounce of aid available within the bounds of law must be promptly extended to our typhoon-affected countrymen for their speedy recovery."

'Yolanda,' one of the strongest typhoons to hit the globe this year, battered at least 41 provinces including Leyte, Samar, Cebu, Iloilo and Palawan, and affected at least 4.5 million Filipinos including many who lost homes and need food and clean water. Economic losses sustained by the country following the typhoon are estimated at P12 billion.

"Every effort of each branch of our government to help our affected people at this critical time is necessary," Poe emphasized.