CHI employees headed by CSR and Sustainability Manager Vera Alejandria (first row, rightmost), Fr. Tito Soquiño, OSA, of Sto. Niño de Cebu Augustinian Social Development Foundation (first row, second rightmost), together with the residents of Kinatarcan Island. (CONTRIBUTED)
Employee volunteers of the Ayala-led Cebu Holdings, Inc. (CHI), in partnership with the Sto. Niño de Cebu Augustinian Social Development Foundation (SNAF) and Asia Pro Cooperative, distributed emergency life bags and school supplies to residents of Kinatarcan Island, Daanbantayan in northern Cebu last May 21.
Kinatarcan Island is one of the mission territories of SNAF.
Ninety-five percent of the structures on the island were destroyed during supertyphoon Yolanda in 2013.
CHI volunteers, with the help of Fr. Tito Soquiño, OSA of SNAF and Asia Pro, partnered with three barangays in Kinatarcan to reach out to 200 families and 150 students.
They conducted a learning session to equip residents with knowledge on disaster readiness.
The residents, among them fisherfolk, were taught basic rescuing skills, fire building, basic hand signals and basic knot tying.
“We want to support the Kinatarcan Island Development (KID) Plan. We are also here to promote disaster readiness among the fisherfolk and residents on the island, especially since they were badly hit by the typhoon two years ago,” said Vera Alejandria, CHI’s corporate social responsibility and sustainability manager.
Two hundred Ayala Life Bags from Ayala Center Cebu were distributed to the families as starter kits. Each bag contained water, whistle, flashlight, swiss knife and a rope.
The Life Bag is also waterproof and buoyant on water, which can also be used as a life saving tool during floods.
Some 150 students on the island also received school supplies. Each set contained notebooks, pencils, sharpener and a plastic envelope.
CHI, through AsiaPro, also oriented young men for possible employment in construction projects in Ayala Center Cebu.