Marcial eyes PBA help for Batangas

Willie Marcial, the PBA commissioner who is a native of Batangas City, will do the rounds with representatives of all the league’s team owners on Wednesday to ask for help for those affected by the Taal Volcano eruption.“The league has always been ready to lend a helping hand,” Marcial told the Inquirer over the phone on Tuesday. “I will talk to every board member [on Wednesday] to ask for help for our countrymen there in Batangas and I am sure that they would be more than willing to do so.”

Thousands have fled their homes in some parts of that Southern province as Taal, a tourist attraction that has been inactive since 1977, started spewing ash on Sunday, the effects of which were felt heavily in the cities of Lemery and Talisay.

Tagaytay has also felt the brunt of Taal’s activity, as the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology kept the alert level at No. 4.

“We will do whatever we can to help ease those displaced from their homes of their plights,” Marcial said. “We are also praying for the safety of everyone there.” INQ