Wednesday, December 24, 2008 Christmas gifts bring smiles to Bacolor folk
TERESITA Barrera, 59, could not believe her eyes as she receives a plastic bag of Christmas meat products, a rarity in their household table. "Apung Tere" as she is often called, did not stop thanking the people who gave the generous gift, it was a taste of Christmas and it felt good.
"We seldom have meat products like these during Christmas. Our life is difficult here. I am very happy that these people took time to visit us here," Apung Tere said in vernacular.
Apung Tere lives in Barangay Tenejero, one of the barangays in Bacolor town devastated by lahar in the 1990s. Almost one and a half decade after Mt. Pinatubo's eruption, people returned to their lands, but their lives were never the same again.
Some of the people living here are considered among the poorest in this town.
Apung Tere and some 1,000 indigent families here were the beneficiaries of P200,000 worth of meat products which were distributed by the Rotary Club of Villa de Bacolor through the support of Pampanga's Best Inc. last Tuesday.
The meat products, which weighed two tons, were distributed to Barangays Cabetican, Tinejero, Cabangbangan, San Vicente, and Parulug here. The distribution dubbed "Pamaskong Handog" was made possible through the generous support of meat products magnate Lolita Hizon.
Rotarian Jess Sama told Sun.Star that Hizon had voluntarily given the meat products to the Rotary Club of Villa de Bacolor. Hizon, incidentally, lives in her country home in Barangay Cabalantian.
"We are just instruments here, the real hand behind this good deed is Madam Lolita Hizon," Sama said, adding that the gift giving is a wake-up call for civil society leaders and government officials that much remains to be done to improve the livelihood opportunities in the town.
Sama said that the Rotary Club will now focus its attention on other projects to improve the standard of living of poor residents here. "This gift giving helps a lot and tells our residents here that there is still hope and that rich people still look on their sad situations and are willing to help."
The Rotary Club of Villa de Bacolor also trooped to Barangay San Matias in Guagua town to distribute 100 additional bags of Christmas meat products from Pampanga's Best Inc. (IOF)
