PAMPANGA Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Inc. (PamCham) president Renato Romero Friday, November 15, said that the relief operations of their sister chambers in Mindanao were successfully launched.

“We are very thankful that our effort to provide assistance to the victims of the earthquakes in Mindanao was very successful. We entrusted the cash donations shared by PamCham members to our sister chambers as well as the distribution of goods,” Romero said.

Hundreds of earthquake victims from 289 households in Makilala, North Cotabato benefited from a relief operation facilitated by the General Santos Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Cyril Ang, president of the said chamber, expressed their gratitude to the Pampanga Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PamCham) for sending the cash donations for the victims of earthquake.

“We express utmost appreciation for your trust and confidence in our Chamber. We are happy to inform you and the good members of the Pampanga Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Inc. that we have already bought relief goods with the generous donation that you have recently sent,” Ang said in a letter to PamCham.

The relief operation was conducted in Barangay Malungon, Makilala even as more than 500 units of food packs were distributed. Each beneficiary received five kilos of rice, one pack (10s) coffee, one pack cereal drink, two cans of meat loaf, two cans of canned tuna flakes, two pouches corned beef, two pouches noodles, three pieces toothbrush, three strips toothpaste, one pack sanitary pad, six strips shampoo, three bars bath soap, three bars detergent, a pair of slippers and one pail.

Barangay Malungon in Makilala is composed of 289 households who, after a string of devastating earthquakes, had to leave their homes and find safety with other families in the nearby Barangay Malabuan. At present, many still lives in temporary shelters made of laminated sack within the grounds of Malabuan Elementary School in Makilala.

Romero said that PamCham will continue to extend help when possible, especially to the areas where their chamber counterparts are located.

“This is the spirit of sisterhood. We have agreed to exchange best practices, information, ideas and we vowed to assist each other in all possible way we can. And most essentially, we vowed to take favorable actions in times of crises and disasters,” Romero said. (Minerva Zamora-Arceo)