TRUE to its commitment to help the communities where it does business in, the Visayan Electric Company (Veco) rushed to provide assistance to the City Government of Naga and distribute relief goods to the displaced residents of the Sept. 20 tragic landslide.

Immediately after the tragedy, Veco de-energized the areas affected by the landslide to ensure the safety of the residents as well as the search and rescue groups. Recognizing, however, that light is crucial to the search and rescue operations, the electric utility energized the electric poles near the landslide area and installed floodlights there.

On Sept. 22, some 61 Veco Kaibigans distributed a total of 750 relief packs to the affected residents who were housed at the Enan Chiong Activity Center, Naga Central High School, Apo Gym and Naalad Elementary School.

The relief packs, gathered with the combined efforts of Veco, AboitizPower Oil Business Unit and Aboitiz Foundation, consisted of ready-to-eat food items, toiletries, four liters of water and five kilos of rice.

Upon the request of City of Naga Mayor Kristine Vanessa Chiong, Veco also donated over 100 wooden poles, which will be used for the continuing search and recovery operations.

The Naga City Government is reportedly planning on digging tunnels through the collapsed mountain to fast-track recovery operations and the poles will be used to reinforce these tunnels.

Veco, jointly owned by publicly listed companies AboitizPower and Vivant, is the second largest electric utility in the Philippines. It serves the City of Naga, as well as the cities of Cebu, Mandaue and Talisay and the four municipalities of the greater part of Metro Cebu–Liloan, Consolacion, Minglanilla, and San Fernando.