Bais City Mayor Karen Villanueva went beyond political boundaries to lead relief operations to disaster-stricken areas in Negros Oriental last Sunday.
As soon as news of the damage started coming in, Mayor Karen and her father, former mayor Hector “Tata” Villanueva, decided it was time to help.
“We decided that afternoon that the best way to deliver the assistance would be in the form of cooked food as the evacuees would not have the time to cook,” the elder Villanueva said.
Volunteers stayed up until dawn to cook rice while the stores were asked to open late in the evening so they could withdraw food items for distribution.
“We had to dig into our pockets because the City Council had not yet declared a State of Calamity and they also needed to pass a Resolution to extend calamity assistance to our neighboring local government units,” the elder Villanueva said.
Upon hearing of the plan to assist typhoon victims, friends called to pitch in. “Congresswoman Josy Limkaichong gave 50 bags of rice and I also have a friend who gave another 35 sacks. All in all, we gave 160 sacks,” Hector Villanueva said.
The beneficiaries were residents of Tanjay City, Amlan, San Jose, Sibulan, Dumaguete City, Valencia and Bacong.
“We went to all these sites except for Valencia and Bacong because our volunteers were already very tired,” he said.
On Thursday, they again distributed medicine, soap and other relief items.