The Philippines' energy minister says he will resign after failing to keep a promise to restore electricity to all typhoon-ravaged areas by Christmas Eve.
Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla plans to file his resignation on Thursday, President Benigno Aquino's spokesman Edwin Lacierda said on ABS-CBN television.
"He intends to submit his resignation, perhaps by tomorrow. Whether the president will accept his resignation, let us wait for that conversation to take place," said Lacierda after speaking to the energy chief.
Petilla had earlier promised to restore electricity to all towns hit by Typhoon Haiyan by Christmas Eve but had failed to reconnect the supply to three towns, the spokesman said.
Lacierda said Petilla had done an "admirable job" considering the scale of the disaster.
The typhoon, one of the strongest ever to hit land, flattened whole towns and left over 6,100 dead and almost 2,000 missing when it struck the central Philippines on November 8.
While power has been restored in a few selected areas of the affected towns, many districts still have no electricity after the storm tore down power lines across a wide area.
Housewife Susan Scala spent Christmas under a white tarpaulin in one of Tacloban's many tent cities that have sprung up for those made homeless by Super Typhoon Haiyan.
At a time when her family should be celebrating, all she could think about was her missing husband.
"Even if it's not Christmas I don't stop thinking about him," the mother of five said of her husband, Oscar, a telephone worker believed lost at sea when giant waves whipped up by the November 8 storm swept away homes in the city's San Jose slum.
Like many of the city's typhoon survivors, the miserable weather made Scala nervous. "This incessant rain is scary. It reminds me of what happened (during the typhoon)," the 53-year-old said.
In the city's ruined Sagkahan fish port, 67-year-old widow Emiliana Aranza pulled sweets and short bread from jars at her makeshift store in front of her shanty to give to the children who knocked on her counter.
"It's a sad Christmas Day. We have lost our home and the government will not allow us to rebuild here, as it's too close to the shore," she said.
"Because of the typhoon, members of my family are now tightly knit. Gone are the petty quarrels," she said.
