CatSU Bayanihan relief assistance hits 3 more batches in Virac
Catanduanes Bayanihan Movement 
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.
