By Antonette Mendoza

When the Department of Social Welfare and Development called on the private sector for assistance in its food relief operations, Republic Cement heeded the call without delay. In a show of public-private sector solidarity, Republic Cement, Aboitiz, MEGACEM and ResourceCOPH quickly mobilized their resources to secure an 800-sqm warehouse in San Simon, Pampanga that can be used by the DSWD free of charge.

DSWD first sounded a call for help in finding a strategically-located warehouse to re-stage 24,000 sacks or ten metric tons of rice closer to Pampanga from Metro Manila.

Within 48 hours, the companies were able to secure the warehouse in San Simon to accelerate rice repacking and distribution to communities in need. ResourceCOPH also allowed free use of their machinery like forklifts.

First and foremost, we would like to extend our heartfelt gratitude to Republic Cement and the Aboitiz Group of Companies for helping us find a warehouse for our stocks of rice. We called on multiple companies for this but only Republic Cement and Aboitiz heeded our call.

– Emmanuel Privado, Director, DSWD

The rice, which are part of food packs, will be distributed to DSWD Field Office (FO) 3 in Pampanga, FO1 in La Union, FO CAR in Baguio, and FO2 in Cagayan Valley.

“The overall effort is very noble because we were able to save about 10 metric tons of rice before they further deteriorate to an unusable condition,” he said. “So thank you Republic Cement and Aboitiz. Thank you very much.”

Since the implementation of the quarantine, Republic Cement has actively supported its North Cluster communities by providing food and medical assistance to host communities, local government units and military personnel manning checkpoints.