Hawaii lawmaker visits Philippines

Vice Speaker Mizuno in Leyte assisting with typhoon relief efforts

Press Release
May 24, 2014

HONOLULU, Hawaii – Hawaii State House of Representatives Vice Speaker John M. Mizuno is currently in the Philippines visiting relatives and government officials while assisting the Gawad Kalinga Community Development Foundation (GK) in the location of two sites where GK plans to build two villages. One village will be built in Bohol where a 7.2 magnitude earthquake struck on October 19, 2013 and one in Leyte, which was devastated by super typhoon Yolanda.

On Tuesday, May 27th, Vice Speaker Mizuno plans to visit with officials in Tacloban City between 10am and noon, and meet with officials in Barugo Town around 2pm. On Thursday, May 29th he will be visiting Bohol and make a site visit for a possible village.

Funds were raised in Hawaii by the Congress of Visayan Organizations (COVO) through various activities, such as concerts and the selling of T-shirts. COVO president is May Besario Mizuno, wife of the Vice Speaker. Last month a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) was signed between COVO and GK-USA committing a dollar-for-dollar match with funds raised by COVO to build two villages with a minimum of 20 houses that will bear the name "COVO Aloha GK USA Village".

"The transformation of our relief efforts, focused on rebuilding housing projects in these devastated areas, will be retrofitted to withstand future typhoons" said May Mizuno, COVO President. "We believe this MOA brings our efforts in helping the victims of typhoon Yolanda full circle."

"I am proud of my wife's work to unite the Filipino community in Hawaii for a great cause" added Vice Speaker John Mizuno. "This touches our hearts on a very personal note because our family members survived super typhoon Yolanda and they too are working to rebuild their home."