The Catanduanes Bayanihan Movement (CBM) led by the Catanduanes State University (CatSU) conducted one of the series of its relief operations through its Take or Share Booth on May 7, 2020 at barangay F. Tacorda with 224 beneficiaries served. Barangays covered were F. Tacorda and Calampong in Virac. The CatSU has sustained its CBM activities in the height of the CoViD-19 pandemic to help those in dire need of food necessities during the community quarantine especially the underprivileged sectors.
The onslaught of Corona Virus Disease-2019 (CoViD-19) worldwide which has claimed thousands of lives deeply affected the daily livelihood and people’s mobility which affected even more the poorest sectors of societies. In the Philippines, its effect has been widely felt in the many distressed families and barangays particularly in the provinces where daily sustenance is dependent upon everyday’s toil. At the onset of the Luzonwide quarantine imposed by the government as early as March 17, 2020 which was extended for more than a month, families needed so much of the ‘bayanihan’ care that Filipinos are known of. As the quarantine progressed, the Catanduanes State University (CatSU) under the leadership of its SUC President III, Dr. Minerva I. Morales, took the challenge in direst times in seeking refuge for these communities in most need of assistance brought about by the pandemic. Hence, the Catanduanes Bayanihan Movement was conceived to respond to this need. The said initiative followed the spirit of sharing, the Filipino way (bayanihan). The University pooled efforts and donations, some of them in the form of cash or in kind, which in turn were provided as relief package where a recipient could take from a designated booth of the University. In the Bayanihan booth are food items that the recipients could take with them as relief for their families during home quarantine period. The first batch of the Bayanihan was launched on April 12, 2020 at the CatSU compound during Easter Sunday when 147 beneficiaries from barangays of Calatagan and Cavinitan were served. That was followed on April 15, 2020 at the Virac Sports Center in Rawis where 384 were benefitted from barangays Rawis and Francia. On April 17, 2020, it was the turn of barangay San Juan, Salvacion and Concepcion with 296 families served at the San Juan barangay plaza. The fourth batch of CBM sharing initiative was in barangay Buyo with 277 beneficiaries, until it was briefly interrupted by a local alarm of suspected CoViD-19 case which practically suspended the mobility for a while. Soon after the CoViD-19 scare in the locality passed the clearance testing which gained negative results, the CBM went through with its fifth batch at barangay Pajo in Virac as venue. Recipients from barangays Pajo Baguio and Pajo San Isidro flocked to the CatSU CBM Booth with 215 of them as recipients. The Pajo Bayanihan experience however, left a meaningful niche among the Bayanihan rounds in the locality. While the CatSU bayanihan booth provided for their daily relief, the barangay residents, to the surprise of the CBM organizers, had with them their own version of “Bayanihan in Return” gesture where each of them came in the venue with one or two homegrown vegetable, most of them were freshly picked from their own backyards. Thus, the booth were teemed with mixed presents and vegetable too from the residents themselves who gave in return. This provided a beautiful twist in the bayanihan cycle of events in its fifth round. The latest in its series was done on May 7, 2020 at barangay F. Tacord as the venue with 224 beneficiaries served from barangays F. Tacorda and Calampong. Overall, the CBM received total cash donation of P153, 503.00 while it had P69,184 worth of in-kind donations as well. In sum, the CBM as of its latest sixth round had a total of 222, 687.00 total donations.
