SUBIC BAY FREEPORT—The Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA), in cooperation with various locators, continues to distribute relief goods to displaced and indigent families affected by Typhoon “Maring” and heavy rains from the southwest monsoon or “habagat.”
SBMA Chairman Roberto Garcia said the distribution of relief goods is part of the corporate social responsibility (CSR) of the agency to help neighboring communities of the Freeport, especially in times of emergency.
Garcia said that through the agency’s Public Relations Department, thousands of bags of relief goods were distributed among residents of Olongapo City and the municipalities of Dinalupihan and Hermosa in Bataan, which were severely affected by Typhoon Maring.
“We are very grateful for the help and support coming from the business locators in the Subic Freeport, as well as workers, and cause-oriented organizations and individuals, who sent their donations of clothing and food items so that we would have something to give our neighbors who lost so much during the recent calamity,” Garcia said.
Meanwhile, RP Energy Inc., a locator in the Subic Bay Freeport, had distributed more than 2,000 bags of relief goods and hygiene kits in Olongapo City, and the municipalities of Subic, Castillejos and Iba in Zambales.
The relief bags contained five kilos of rice, canned goods, cookies, noodles, candies, and bottled water that evacuees who fled their homes needed most.
In an Aeta tribal community at Sitio Bagong Silang, Barangay San Pablo in Castillejos, RP Energy’s relief operations got a warm reception Mayor Jose Angelo Dominguez, who assisted in the distribution of goods to some 180 families who were relocated from flood-prone areas.
“It is good to see that companies like SBMA and RP Energy reach this isolated area to send a message to our minority brothers and sisters that they are being cared for,” said Dominguez.
RPE CSR officer Vic Chan, who personally supervised the relief operations, said that the company has always been giving priority to the welfare of the communities affected by calamities. RP Energy is a consortium of companies which proposes to build a coal-fired power plant at Subic’s Redondo Peninsula.
Chan said that although the company is not yet starting its construction phase, “the commitment to help those affected by floodings and whose livelihood was disrupted by calamity must be done immediately without delay.”
RP Energy received an award for its CSR program “Katuwang Natin Sa Buhay” in the recently held 48th Anvil awards in the category of public relations program focused on community development.
In addition, Milcah Guevarra-Waltheer, owner of Little Blocks Development Center in Kalayaan, Subic Bay Freeport Zone, also donated school desks and chairs and distributed snacks for some 300 school children at Agusuhin Elementary School Annex located at a resettlement site in Barangay Cawag, Subic town.
In the same activities, the SBMA Public Relations Department distributed relief goods to some residents of Agusuhin heavily affected during the onslaught of typhoon "Maring."
Mrs Waltheer said it has become a regular event for her and her family to conduct outreach projects for indigent communities and seeing the condition of the school children promised that the school will be included in their adopt-the school program.
"Our endeavor were also made possible with the help of some friends from New Zealand and my colleagues," she said.
