After overseeing her office’s typhoon relief operations in Bohol, presidential aspirant Vice President Leni Robredo on Saturday, Dec. 18, flew to typhoon-ravaged Cebu to assess the situation on the ground even as she asked her supporters to halt election-related activities and instead funnel resources to the relief efforts.
Typhoon "Odette" barreled through several provinces in Visayas and Mindanao a week before Christmas. Its first landfall was recorded on Thursday evening, Dec. 16 in Siargao Island, with the ninth landfall recorded in Palawan province on Friday afternoon, Dec. 17.
Robredo flew to Bohol on Friday afternoon. By Saturday noon, she was already in Cebu and posted on her social media several photos of fallen electrical posts and trees that block the streets.
“We’re in Cebu now. Signal is difficult. Devastation everywhere. Been travelling more than 2 hours already from the airport to Cebu City,” she said in a Twitter post.
“Traffic is bad: Roads still being cleared of electric lines and posts that toppled down, and lines are long at gas & water refilling stations,” she wrote.
Robredo agreed to team up with a fellow presidential aspirant in Senator Manny Pacquiao in delivering aid to those affected by Odette. Pacquiao assisted her office in transporting 864 bottles of mineral water for the typhoon victims.
But it’s not only the Vice President who is trying to help Filipinos affected by Odette, which is the strongest typhoon to hit the country this year.
The volunteers and supporters of Robredo and Senator Francis "Kiko" Pangilinan--dubbed "kakampinks"--have been asked to set aside all election and campaign-related activities in an effort to focus resources to affected areas in Visayas and Mindanao.
Some lugaw (rice porridge)-feeding initiatives--a signature movement of the Robredo camp--also had to be stopped so the funds can be used to buy relief goods such as ready-to-eat food, toiletries, bottled water, and face masks, among others.
Members of Team Robredo-Pangilinan (TRoPa) have shifted their efforts to relief work from their planned nationwide salo-salo and gift-giving drive dubbed LENIwanag at KIKOtitap ang Pasko.
“I think it is no mere coincidence that led us to organize the LENIwanag at KIKOtitap ang Pasko activities this week. Through our organizational structure, we will support the massive relief operations led by VP Leni Robredo on the ground. We are inspired because it’s the volunteers themselves who immediately saw the need to shift our event focus and allocate our resources to support VP Leni's relief operations,” Team Leni Robredo (TLR) communications head Ben Bernabe said.
Volunteers have already established food booths at several evacuation sites in Bohol, Eastern Samar, and Butuan to provide warm meals such as arroz caldo and champorado to displaced families.
In Butuan City alone, Bernabe said TROPA volunteers were able to serve some 993 families in 33 evacuation centers as of Thursday. In Surigao, volunteers were able to mobilize relief operations in several evacuation sites.
“This typhoon will probably dampen the Christmas spirit, but in this situation, we always ask what would great leaders like Leni and Kiko will do. We believe that we can bring back the light of hope to every Filipino family affected by the typhoon. LENIwanag at KIKOtitap pa rin ang Pasko. Let us heed Leni Robredo’s call for radical love by helping everyone unconditionally, especially those who are most vulnerable and in need,” Bernabe said.
Opposition coalition 1Sambayan’s Rizal chapter also redirected funds from their lugaw-feeding initiative to buying boxes of relief goods.
“Actually, iyong budget po na ‘yun (that budget is) intended po namin siya para sa mga palugaw namin sa mga (for lugaw-feeding programs in) communities. Ang tawag namin is ‘Kusina ng Masa’ pero po since nag-ask si VP Leni na mag-concentrate muna sa (We call it Kitchen of the Masses but since VP Leni asked to concentrate first on) relief efforts at saka tumulong muna sa lahat ng nangangailangan sa (and to help first to those in need in) Region 6 at (and) Region 7, sinet aside muna namin ‘yung mga palugaw (we set aside the lugaw program) and we set aside a budget for relief goods,” Gail Gianan of 1Sambayan-Rizal said.
Robredo earlier converted the Leni-Kiko volunteer center in Katipunan, Quezon City into a relief operations hub where donors can drop off blankets, hygiene items, bottled water, face masks, alcohol, rice, and ready-to-eat food.
The relief center, however, asked donors not to bring used clothing, shoes, and bags.
Those who intend to donate cash can also course their donations through the Tanging Yaman Foundation, Inc. via their Metrobank account number 448-7-44801314-2 and BPI account number 9601-0002-42.
The Tanging Yaman Foundation, Inc. is the partner of the Office of the Vice President’s (OVP) in its flagship poverty alleviation program, "Angat Buhay".