Razon firms aid quake-hit GenSan, Sarangani

Companies and foundations associated with Enrique K. Razon Jr. quickly responded to calls for assistance following the June 8 magnitude 7.8 earthquake, supporting government-led relief efforts and affected communities across southern Mindanao.

Drawing on each company’s capabilities and resources, relief operations centered on Sarangani and General Santos.

Using its logistics network, International Container Terminal Services, Inc. (ICTSI), through the ICTSI Foundation, Inc. (IF), procured goods and worked with the General Santos City Social Welfare and Development Office to support an orderly distribution system based on validated beneficiary lists.

Together with Bloomberry Cultural Foundation, Inc. (BCFI) and Solaire Resort & Casino, teams coordinated with local governments and the armed forces to organize staging points for deliveries.

With support from the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA), South Cotabato Integrated Port Services, Inc. (SCIPSI), an ICTSI unit operating at the Port of General Santos, served as a staging area for the delivery and distribution of close to 3,500 sacks of rice, along with aid packs, groceries and drinking water to nearly 3,000 families across seven barangays in General Santos City — Apopong, Calumpang, Labangal, Bula, Dadiangas East, Dadiangas West and Lagao.

Primelectric Holdings, Inc., including its affiliate Ignite Power & Energy Corp., worked alongside IF, BCFI, SCIPSI and Solaire to move supplies, manage crowds and support distribution.

Aid was also extended to SCIPSI and PPA personnel, security staff and IF scholars in the city.

Relief operations on the ground involved about 160 personnel and volunteers from ICTSI, BCFI, Solaire, SCIPSI and MORE Electric and Power Corporation, along with drivers, logistics crews, and support from the Maritime Group of the Philippine National Police and the Civil Military Operations Regiment of the Philippine Army.

In Sarangani, Manila Water Company, Inc., together with Cebu Manila Water Development, Inc., Manila Water Philippine Ventures, Inc. and Manila Water Foundation, carried out a 10-day water relief operation from June 11 to 20, deploying a mobile treatment plant and a 10-cubic-meter tanker in Malapatan and Glan, supported by nine volunteers on the ground.

The operation sourced water from the Malapatan River and local wells in Glan, producing and distributing more than 82,000 liters of treated water and reaching over 58,000 affected individuals across multiple barangays, including Libi and Sapu Padidu in Malapatan and Poblacion, Ilaya, Pangyan, Taluya and other communities in Glan.

MORE Electric and Power Corporation and Primelectric deployed around 30 linemen and technical personnel to assist local crews in restoring damaged power lines. The companies also delivered food packs, bottled water, generator fuel, solar lamps and industrial fans.

The groups continue to coordinate with local governments as recovery efforts move forward, while aftershocks persist across parts of southern Mindanao.