Board Member Clarito “Prince” Demaala IV has donated his salary for two months to launch his “Mobile Kusina ni Kuyang Prince,” a program to feed his constituents in his hometown Narra amidst the pandemic.
In an interview with Demaala on Saturday, the board member said that a “challenge” of donating their personal salaries among the members of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan originally started even before the Holy Week.
Demaala said that he, along with other members of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan, has accepted the challenge to donate their salaries in different measures to help out Palaweños in this time of health crisis.
“Bago mag semana santa, ating chinallenge ang mga board member’s ng ating lalawigan na idonate ang kanilang mga sahod. Maraming mga tumugon, halos lahat tumugon sa ating hamon. Nakakatuwa kasi maraming natutulongan upang mapakain,” Demaala said.
Acoording to him, his two months’ salary was able to fund the feeding of Narra frontliners, public market vendors, and now ordinary citizens.
With a mission to ease out hunger of local residents, especially those belonging to the vulnerable sector of the community, the Mobile Kusina ni Kuyang Prince will be scheduled to reach out even far-flung sitios in all the barangays within the town next week, according to Demaala.
“Nagsimula noong lockdown, namigay tayo sa ating mga frontliners, namigay tayo ng mahigit na 1,800 na meryenda kasama ‘yung mga taga palengke diyan, lahat sila, pati ‘yung mga taga barangay. Ngayon ang gusto natin umikot kami, para maabotan lahat ng ating mga remote areas ng mga meryenda at lutong pagkain sa mga barangay,” Demaala said.
He said that the program started yesterday and was able to give out cooked food and merienda to residents of Barangay Antipuluan, Narra, wherein 600 packed foods were given out to residents.
“Ang mga target area namin ay ‘yung mga nasa bundok, Dumangueña, Panacan II, kasi ang Panacan II wala silang IRA na natatatanggap kaya kulang na kulang ‘yung kanilang pagkain na natatanggap. Lahat maiikot namin, majority, maiikot namin,” Demaala said.
He said that he, along with some staff, personally prepared and cooked the food in his home.
According to him, before starting the feeding program, he initially donated a portion of his two months’ salary to fund thousands of relief goods which were also given to each barangay of his hometown.
‘’Yung unang wave natin, namigay tayo ng mga kape at tinapay, halos each barangay nabigyan sila ng 3,000 packs. ‘Yun ‘yung unang week ng lockdown,” Demaala said.
When asked on what other measures the Sangguniang Bayan of Narra are planning in aid to constituents in this time of health crisis, Demaala admitted that he noticed the delay of distribution of relief goods, reason why, during their last regular session he proposed a resolution to give out cash assistance instead of relief goods to address the needs of residents immediately.
“Meron tayong delay ng pamimigay ngayon ng goods. Hindi pa lahat ng barangay nabibigyan. Two weeks ago, nag-propose ako sa SB at nag-request ako sa ating local chief executive na hindi na goods ang ibigay, kundi cash na. Para mabilis. Dahil patapos na ang ating lockdown may mga barangay pa rin na hindi nakakatanggap,” Demaala said.
“Sa malalaking barangay mas lugi sila dahil ang paghahatian nila, sobrang dami nila. Kaya ang nangyari sa ating barangay na malalaki, sila pa ang nahuli. Kaya form of cash na sana ang ibigay natin, huwag na nating pahirapan na mag repack pa tayo para umikot din ang pera sa ating munisipyo,” he added.
Though he requested this to the office of Narra Mayor Gerandy Danao about two weeks ago, Demaala said that his office hasn’t received any answer yet coming from the mayor’s office.
Demaala also disclosed that Narra has already received the P27 million Bayanihan Grant coming from the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) two weeks ago and yet, the Sangguniang Bayan hasn’t received any proposal yet on how they would allocate the fund for the municipality.
“Merong dumating na P27M, katumbas kasi ‘yun ng one-month IRA ng ating munisipyo two weeks ago na sa pagkakaalam ko pero hanggang ngayon wala pa kaming natatanggap na proposal sa SB kung anong gagawin sa P27M na ‘yun. Sana maidistribute na natin ‘yun sa ating mga kababayan,” Demaala said.
Demaala also pleads for public cooperation amidst crisis.
“Sana huwag tayong mawalan ng pag-asa. Alam natin na marami pang mangyayari. Wala pa tayo sa gitna ng laban, hindi pa tapos ang laban hanggang wala pang vaccine. Ang pakiusap lang natin sana sumunod tayo sa palatuntunan ng ating gobyerno,” Demaala said.
When asked on how he would respond to online bashers, Demaala said that he’s not been active on social media for three months now.
“Kung makikita niyo yung Facebook ko, namigay tayo lahat ng mga pagkain sa mga frontliners natin, mga pang-meryenda sa ating mga barangay, pero wala kayong nakita ni isang post doon. Tayo, hindi pamomolitika, kung pamomolitika ang gagawin natin, bawat kibot natin, ipopost natin,” Demaala said.
“Tatlong buwan na akong hindi nagpi-facebook. Ngayon lang ako nagpo-post ng ganito dahil gusto kong malaman nila na kapag pumunta kami sa barangay nila, makakapunta sila. Hindi tayo konting kibot lang ipopost natin, konting ginawa natin ipopost natin. Hindi tayo plastik na tao, kahit walang camera sa harap natin, nagta-trabaho tayo,” Demaala said.