Race against time: YGC, community partners join relief efforts to restore Cebu and Bacolod

With Cebu and Negros Occidental under state of calamity weeks after consecutive natural calamities, help continues to pour in from public and private sectors. The Yuchengco Group of Companies (YGC), through its CSR arm AY Foundation, has mobilized teams and joined local organizations to help communities in these provinces hardest hit by typhoons Tino and Uwan. 

As YGC teams continue to coordinate with local groups, updates from the RCBC Cebu team indicate that power restoration has almost been completed in Metro Cebu while damage to water infrastructure is being repaired. There are families who have yet to return to their damaged homes, while many have been displaced from their jobs due to damage in workplace buildings.

A total of 450 families living in Cebu’s hardest hit barangays including Gawad Kalinga in Talisay, Barangay Nangka in Consolacion, and Barangay Cotcot in Liloan received relief goods amounting to more than Php4,000 for each family. 

In the hardest hit areas in Negros Occidental, 1,000 families also received recovery essentials amounting to about Php1,600 per family. Aside from the heavily affected areas of Bago City, Hinigaran, La Castellana, relief efforts likewise extended to Silay, Bacolod, Cadiz, Binalbagan, Kabankalan, Magallon and Cauayan.

They all received what the families needed and asked for: food, water, medicines, vitamins, hygiene kits, mosquito nets, drop cloths, blankets, and solar lights. 

Teams from YGC affiliates RCBC, Sun Life Grepa Financial, and Malayan Insurance joined forces with local partners like Siervas Sisters in Talisay, Brotherhood of Christian Businessmen and Professionals-Bacolod South Chapter, and Lopue’s Mandalagan Corporation for the ongoing operations.

Pearly Libiran-Cruz of AY Foundation shares that while they have a small team, it only took one phone call from the Yuchengcos themselves to mobilize the conglomerate’s synergized relief operations. 

“Synergy works especially when it is needed most. AY Foundation is a small team, but YGC is a big conglomerate that has employees ready to step up when the need arises,” Libiran-Cruz said. She added that while the YGC employees were earthquake and typhoon victims themselves, they immediately responded to the call for volunteerism.

Relief work is more than distributing goods. For companies and private foundations, it’s about helping the community restore their dignity by showing them that compassion knows no boundaries.