ANOTHER batch of relief goods intended for the quake-affected families in North Cotabato and Davao del Sur arrived on Monday, November 5, at the Old Airport in Davao City onboard the Philippine Air Force’s (PAF’s) C130 cargo plane coming from Manila.
Tactical Operations Wing Eastern Mindanao (Toweastmin) Second Lieutenant Henry Elipe said the relief items that arrived here were the third batch of donated items so far that they have transported coming from Luzon.
“The Tactical Operations Wing Eastern Mindanao supports the facilitation of relief operations reaching out to help the affected communities of the Mindanao Earthquake. This Unit utilizes manpower and air assets to expedite the delivery of relief goods that will address the needs of earthquake victims. This Unit is committed to serve people not only for their security but also engaged in humanitarian assistance and disaster response,” Elipe said.
Various uniformed personnel, including the members of the Philippine National Police (PNP), the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), and other volunteers, helped in unloading the donated items which include 266 boxes of assorted medical supply and 200 pieces folding bed from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), and 1,000 pieces of blanket from Metrobank Foundation.
In an interview with Marievic Mariano, head of Grants and Healthcare Unit of Metrobank Foundation, she said that their initiative is part of the Metrobank Helping Hands, their calamity assistance response program for any type of calamities including earthquake.
Aside from the blankets, they will also donate 1,000 tents for Kidapawan and Makilala, Cotabato and another 1,000 for Magsaysay, Davao del Sur.
She added that Metrobank Foundation allotted a total of P2-million worth of relief items for the affected areas.
“This is the first batch kasi right after na nangyari yong earthquake, our bosses immediately said to do something. Actually, over the weekend, ‘yong aming Metrobank Gensan, Digos, at Kidapawan they did 800 relief goods to Ilomavis and Makilala so that’s 800 families. They gave five gallons of water and then food particularly there were five kilos of rice, biscuits, tuna, noodles, etc,” Mariano said.
She further thanked the security forces and the police for their assistance through providing the aircraft and the trucks to transports the donations to reach the affected families. (JCR)