VP reaches out anew to remote Palawan town

Stong-willed as she is, Vice President Leni Robredo took a 13-hour boat ride again to visit Agutaya, a fifth-class island municipality in northern Palawan. Robredo visited Agutaya for the second time to turn over various types of assistance to the townfolk of Algericas, one of the underserved communities in the island.

She said Agutaya is one of the poorest municipalities included in her flagship antipoverty program, Angat Buhay.

“Our office has been helping them out through our Angat Buhay program since November 2016,” she said in a Facebook post.

The Vice President shared on her official and personal Facebook page the photos of her trip to the remote municipality in Palawan.

The last time she was in Agutaya was in June 2017.

Robredo made her first stop at the Algericas Elementary School for the turnover of cash donation from A n g a t B u h a y p a r t n e r, M e t r o b a n k Foundation, Inc. (MBFI), to the local government.

“This will be used for the hygiene kits and multivitamins of students,” Robredo said.

“We hope that this will help address malnutrition, water, sanitation and hygiene-related diseases affecting students,” she added.

The student beneficiaries are from Villa Sol Elementary School, Villa Fria Elementary School, Agutaya Central School and Matarawis Elementary School.

The Vice President then provided seaweed farmers with four motorized boats from St. Theresa’s College Que- zon City Alumni Association.

Seaweed farming is one of Agutaya’s main sources of livelihood, especially in the island communities.

Robredo met with the beneficiaries and witnessed their seaweed farming process.

The Vice President said she hoped the boats will “help them develop and sustain their livelihood.”

Because of its distance, reached Agutaya via an eight-hour boat ride from Cuyo, where she took another boat for five hours to Algericas.

The assistance package extended to Algericas also included solar panels/kits to electrify 165 households,” she said.