Former House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano and his allies in the Balik sa Tamang Serbisyo (BTS) sa Kongreso gave much-needed relief to 1,950 residents of Batangas affected by the recent unrest of Taal Volcano through the provision of grocery packs, face masks, and immunity kits.
The donation packs were given to 650 residents each of Agoncillo, Laurel, and San Nicolas in Batangas.
While it is a big aspect of tourism in Batangas, Taal Volcano has affected thousands of families since its eruption in 2020.
It has been acting up of late, with 124 volcanic earthquakes recorded over 24 hours on August 22, 2021 and over 15,000 tons of sulfur dioxide emitted.
More than 4,000 families have been evacuated from the volcano’s danger zone and are struggling not just with the pandemic but with living in evacuation centers.
New hope
During the Sampung Libong Pag-asa live stream on his Facebook page on Monday, August 23, Cayetano also selected 20 beneficiaries from the comments section to receive P10,000 in cash assistance.
The new beneficiaries brings the total number of beneficiaries of the Sampung Libong Pag-asa program to 9,185 since it was launched last May.
The Sampung Libong Pag-asa is a regular program where Cayetano and his allies select individuals to receive P10,000 in cash aid.
It was held weekly until the second week of August when Cayetano began to hold it daily in response to the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) imposed on Metro Manila from August 6 to 20.
The program is an offshoot of the 10K Ayuda Bill which they filed on February 1, 2021 with the aim of providing the cash assistance to all Filipino families. While the bill was incorporated in Bayanihan 3, the amount of P10,000 was not included.
Monday’s program featured Mac-Mac Verbosidad, a fast food service crew member from Malate, Manila, who was chosen as a beneficiary on June 20, 2021.
“Hinati ko po itong 10K. Ang limang libo naman po para sa puhunan ng aking magulang sa pagtitinda, at ang limang libo naman po ay tinabi ko para sa pag-aaral ng anak ko,” he said.
(I divided the P10,000. I used P5,000 as capital of my parents’ store and saved the other P5,000 for the education of my child.)
“Kung sakaling lumago po ang aming tindahan, magtatayo kami sa harap ng bahay namin ng pwesto para hindi na po mahirapan ang aking magulang sa pagtitinda. At ngayon naman po nag-ECQ na naman, nang dahil po sa 10K hindi na po kami masyadong nahihirapan ngayon,” he added.
(If our business grows, we will set up the business in front of our house so that my parents would not have a hard time selling. And now that we are under ECQ, the P10,000 helped us so we are not facing much difficulties now.)###
Watch Mac-mac’s story here:
