Calumpit mayor explains after going viral with ayuda promo amid rains, floods

The mayor of Calumpit, Bulacan, went viral after she encouraged her constituents to post selfies of themselves in the floods to be included in a raffle for ayuda or aid.

According to JP Soriano’s Thursday report on “24 Oras,” Calumpit Mayor Lem Faustino said that the local government had not neglected the residents.

“Bago po kami mag ‘e-ayuda’ ay una naming pinuntahan ang mga [evacuation] centers namin. So, mayroon po kaming 430,000 families na affected. Inaabot po namin nang personal ang aming relief goods sa aming mga binahang kababayan. Ito pong ‘e-ayuda,’ siyempre po sa Facebook po namin pinost para lang maiwasan yung scammers po,” Faustino said.

(We prioritized our residents in evacuation centers before the ‘e-ayuda.’ We have 430,000 affected families, and we personally handed out the relief goods. We posted the ‘e-ayuda’ on Facebook to avoid scammers.)

Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla said helping during a calamity must be based on “empathy, compassion, and equity.”  

“Lahat, as much as possible, matulungan mo (Everyone should be given aid as much as possible). Making it a game of chance, making it a competition removes all three components from the propriety of helping people during times of crisis,” Remulla said.

Meanwhile, aid from the Department of Social Welfare and Development has been distributed to the affected families.

Some residents also cooked food and handed it out to their neighbors.

Floods persist in some Bulacan areas

According to some residents in Barangay San Miguel in Calumpit, their area has been experiencing floods for decades.

However, the flooding seems to have worsened this time due to the Southwest Monsoon and consecutive tropical cyclones.

At around 2 p.m., some areas in the barangay reached above head level.

In Barangay Meysulao, also in Calumpit, the flood is neck-deep.

Residents used boats to get to their destination since it was dangerous to cross the flooded streets.

Some houses and vehicles were also submerged in floodwater.

While a resident refused to evacuate because he could not leave his pet dog, some dogs were seen in cages despite the flood.

Residents also used boats to get to evacuation centers.

Some areas in Bulacan, Bulacan were also flooded. –Mariel Celine Serquiña/NB, GMA Integrated News