While the government is doing everything to help the people and make lives better amid the pandemic, everybody has to play a role under the concept of “bayanihan”, which gives the needy a ray of hope, an educator here said Thursday.

“Malala lang talaga ang problema at siyempre kaya yun ang concept ng bayanihan, tulong-tulong lahat (The problem is really serious, thus, the concept of bayanihan is for everyone to help),” Jojo Gallego, president of the MV Gallego Foundation Colleges (MVGFC), said in an interview.

The school launched its Bayanihan Project, which involved the distribution of food packs to several villages, persons with disabilities (PWDs), and a group of tricycle drivers.

Gallego said the government continuously provides the people with their needs while addressing the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) outbreak.

“Ang eskwelahan po natin (Our school), all the time ang focus in three aspects. Of course, instruction is the most obvious pero nagre-research din po tayo at meron tayo talagang extension project. Kaya ito po, gusto po nating sumuporta sa ating gobyerno, bayanihan dahil hirap na hirap yung mga kababayan natin. Kaya sabi namin maganda itong gawing component ng ating extension program (We are also doing research and we have an extension project. We want to support our government [through] bayanihan because our countrymen are in a difficult situation. So we said it would be good to make it a component of our extension program),” he said.

Charles Agrusolo, chapter head of the barangay PWD association in San Roque Sur here, said PWDs are among those hardest hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, especially those who actually have to work for their everyday needs.

“Sobrang laki po ng epekto sa amin (It has a huge impact on us),” he said as he received packs of rice, vegetables, and canned goods from the Bayanihan Project, a blended version of the popularized community pantry of the MVGFC.

“Ang munting bagay na ito ay napakalaking tulong at kaligayahan para sa aming mga miyembro na PWDs (This little thing is a huge help and provides happiness to our PWD members),” Agrusolo added.

Aside from the PWDs, the project also benefited hundreds of residents in several villages, among them Talipapa, San Josef Sur, San Juan Accfa, Hermogenes C. Concepcion Sr., Zulueta, and Imelda, as well as the tricycle drivers’ association in this city, Gallego said.

On top of the food support, he said they also handed scholarship vouchers to qualified students.

“Natutuwa po tayo na andami pong mga nag-donate sa ating Bayanihan Project. Lahat ng mga empleyado, faculty, administrators po ng eskwelahan, hindi lang po yan pati mga kaibigan ng eskwelahan, mga suppliers natin, mga contractors natin. Nung nalaman nila na may magandang proyekto tayong ganito ay kusa po silang nagbigay ng kung anu-ano po na puwede nating i-share sa mga kababayan natin na may kailangan (We are glad that so many people have donated to our Bayanihan Project – employees, faculty members, administrators of the school, also friends of the school, our suppliers, our contractors. When they found out that we had a good project like this, they willingly gave us what we could share with our countrymen who are in need),” Gallego said.

Under the project, two vans manned by employees were commissioned to deliver the food packs to several barangays while a long table with various foodstuffs, such as rice, vegetables, fish, eggs, and hotdogs, was put up for residents of adjoining places inside the school compound in Barangay Zulueta, along Maharlika Highway.

Maricris Malamug, student affairs director, said the Bayanihan Project aims to show the community that anybody can be of help to the needy during these trying times.

She said some of the vegetables were actually harvested inside the school premises.

“Meron po kaming maliit na farm kung saan nagtatanim po tayo ng iba’t ibang gulay dun at mga palay (We have a small farm where we grow various vegetables and palay),” Malamug said.

The MVGFC is one of the first nursing schools in Central Luzon, established in 1960 by the country’s first health secretary, Manuel Gallego.

The school now offers various courses. (PNA)