House Deputy Speaker and Taguig City Representative Pia S. Cayetano on Thursday personally visited a coastal community in Davao City where some 300 families lost their homes to separate fire incidents earlier this month.
Cayetano, who was in Davao City over the weekend to attend the convention of the Hugpong ng Pagbabago (HNP) regional party, took the opportunity to visit the fire evacuees who have taken refuge at the covered court of Brgy. 76-A in Bucana, Davao City.
Two fire incidents that happened only days apart (August 7 and 9) struck separate areas in the barangay, rendering nearly 300 families there homeless.
Aside from offering emergency relief assistance to the evacuees in coordination with the office of foreign affairs secretary Alan Peter Cayetano (the Deputy Speaker’s younger brother), Cayetano also offered her message of hope that the residents would soon be able to rebuild their homes.
“I have never experienced losing my house to a fire, and so I could never claim to know the extent of the pain that all of you are now going through. But I have experienced how it feels to lose an important part of my life, two members of my family, and so it is through conversations like these that we are able to relate with and support each other,” she told the evacuees.
“Tragedies can strike anyone, anywhere, and sometimes at the most difficult time. It is during these moments that our faith gets tested. But we just have to continue to persevere and recover, even if it means rebuilding from scratch. We do this not only for ourselves, but also for our loved ones and children,” she stressed.
The Deputy Speaker also had a surprise for the children evacuees whom she treated to ice cream.
Cayetano also thanked Barangay 76-A leaders and community volunteers whom she urged to take good care of the most vulnerable among the evacuees, including women, especially nursing mothers, young children, and the elderly. #
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