From “lugaw” to grocery items: 1Sambayan Rizal donates to ‘Odette’ relief ops
Members of 1Sambayan Rizal brought boxes of relief goods for the families displaced by super typhoon “Odette” (International name: Rai) to the Leni-Kiko Volunteer Center– turned Relief Operations Center in Katipunan Avenue, Quezon City on Friday, December 17.
According to Gail Gianan of 1Sambayan-Rizal, their budget was initially intended for their regular “palugaw” program but they decided to redirect the money and use it instead to buy groceries to donate to those who were affected by Odette, described by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies as “one of the world’s strongest storms in 2021”.
“Actually, yung budget po na yun intended po namin siya para sa mga palugaw namin sa mga communities. Ang tawag namin is ‘Kusina ng Masa’ pero po since nag-ask si VP Leni na mag-concentrate muna sa relief efforts at saka tumulong muna sa lahat ng nangangailangan sa Region 6 at Region 7, sinet aside muna namin yung mga palugaw and we set aside a budget for relief goods,” Gianan said.
VP Leni has called for a Bayanihan effort to help the thousands of families now in need after Odette slammed into parts of Visayas and Mindanao. She immediately announced the conversion of the Leni-Kiko Volunteer HQ into a Relief Operations Center as everyone began to mobilize help for the affected families.
On Friday, the Vice President flew to Bohol and visited an evacuation center in Tagbilaran City where she met with and brought relief assistance to the families who fled their homes.
“Updates have been hard to come by over the past 24 hours, kaya hindi rin tayo mapakali. So we went to assess the situation and bring help,” VP Leni said in her Facebook post late Friday.
She said she and her team also wanted to visit an evacuation center in Loay but was unable to do so because of the heavy flooding in many areas in the north and east of Bohol.
VP Leni met with Bohol Governor Art Yap, who is leading the road-clearing operations with the province’s Tarsier 117 team, Vice Governor Rene Relampagos, Mayor Baba Yap, other local officials, and members of the Philippine National Police (PNP) who are part of the rescue operations.
“Sa ngayon, inaalam pa ang extent ng damage, as well as the death toll, because communication lines are mostly down,” VP Leni said.
Gail Gianan of 1Sambayan-Rizal said their group’s budget was initially intended for their regular “palugaw” program. They decided to redirect the money and use it instead to buy groceries to donate to those who were affected by super typhoon Odette. ###
