Former House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano on Friday called on Filipinos to practice bayanihan within their communities in order to help each other recover from the pandemic.
“Remember, hindi kailangan dumaan sa amin. Kung may kapitbahay kayo at mabibigyan niyo…nawalan ng trabaho, tulong-tulong po tayo,” Cayetano said during the Sampung Libong Pag-asa program on November 12, 2021.
(Remember, the aid doesn’t need to go through our program. If you have neighbors who have lost their jobs, you can directly help them. Let’s help each other.)
Friday’s episode focused on displaced tourism workers in Cebu who have been adversely affected by the restrictions imposed by the government to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
“We’d really like to be a part of building the tourism industry,” Cayetano said.
Cayetano was joined by his wife Taguig 2nd District Rep. Lani Cayetano and Senator Joel Villanueva in the latest episode.
Launched on May 1, 2021, the Sampung Libong Pag-asa program gives P10,000 in financial assistance to select individuals affected by the pandemic.
It focuses on various affected sectors each week in order to raise awareness for a Filipino family’s need for stable financial assistance in the midst of a global health crisis.
The latest episode saw 30 beneficiaries from Oslob and 50 beneficiaries from Talisay, Cebu. A total of 150 beneficiaries were given financial aid, including those selected from the live stream’s comments section.
As of writing, more than 13,400 families have benefitted from the said program.
During the program, Oslob’s public information officer Aristeo Puson said the pandemic has had a big impact on the tourism industry.
“Y’ung whale shark namin is one of the income driven dito, malaki talaga epekto [ng pandemya]. In the population of one barangay, in Tan-Awan, all of those constituents natin d’on ay naapektuhan talaga,” Puson said.
(The whale shark tourism industry used to be one of the major income-generating sectors here, but because of the pandemic, constituents from larger barangays in Tan-Awan which heavily rely on this industry, have been severely affected.)
For his part, Oslob Mayor Jose Tumulak Jr. related the hardships of their local boatmen who used to have stable income from Oslob’s tourism industry.
He said the P10,000 cash aid was proof that there are still “compassionate leaders out there who would like to help their fellow Filipinos during a time of crisis.”