Here’s how Mayor Emeng Pascual protects and provides for his people in the midst of this Covid-19 crisis

At this point, most of the country, including Nueva Ecija, is gearing up to ease from enhanced community quarantine into general community quarantine. Still, a lot of Filipinos are crying for help from the national government on account of rumbling stomachs, particularly those displaced by this pandemic.

In the city of Gapan in Nueva Ecija, Mayor Emeng Pascual believes that in order for the people to stay at home, the government should put food on their tables, and this is exactly what he is doing. On social media, this 46year-old mayor is creating a buzz as netizens are lauding him for his exemplary example of serving the people.

In a phone interview, Mayor Emeng shared with Manila Bulletin Lifestyle how the local government unit (LGU) of Gapan City is helping its people, and why he donated almost four years worth of his salary and some to the city’s public fund.

The majority’s status quo

According to Mayor Emeng, with a population of 140,000 people, it’s undeniable that most of his townmates live in poverty, “isang kahig, isang tuka,” as he put it. That’s why it would be really hard for their citizens to survive under the enhanced community quarantine guidelines.

“I am the president of the tricycle driver association here,” he says. “I personally go around and arrest those who are still offering services. But then they told me ‘Pangulong Emeng dalawang oras lang. Gusto naming mamasada para may pagkain lang kami. Isang kilong bigas lang uuwi na kami (President Emeng, just give us a couple of hours. We need to do this so we can buy food. Once we have enough to buy a kilo of rice, we will go home).’”

This hit him hard. As a mayor, he realized that to protect his people from Covid-19, he needed to support them. “Even if I strictly implement the law, they won’t listen to me because they don’t have food on their tables to feed themselves and their families,” he says. “I prevent them from working and ask them to stay at home. I need to make sure that they don’t have any excuse not to follow it.”

Donating his salary

With a limited budget of R35 million from Gapan City’s quick response fund, Mayor Emeng knew it was not enough to provide adequate relief supplies to 34,000 families. This is when he decided to donate his salary as mayor since he started his term last July 2016.

“In order to give rice to every family in Gapan, we need R50 million,” he says. “What I did was, I collected all my salary since I started working as a mayor in 2016, that’s at around 45 months now, and it’s equivalent to R4.5 million. I donated all of that.”

Mayor Emeng disclosed to Manila Bulletin Lifestyle that he is receiving a salary of R100,000 every month. Knowing that it is not yet enough to reach the R50 million target fund, he again took R1.5 million from his personal money, then asked his father and sister to donate R5 million each.

Generous relief goods

From this fund, Mayor Emeng started to distribute one sack of rice (50 kilos each) for every family, he also added live poultry supply that goes as their ulam (meal). Hence, the photos circulating online of the mayor distributing live chicken to his constituents.

“I give it fresh and alive so they can choose what meal they want to cook from that chicken,” he explains when asked why he decided to give out live chickens. Aside from the supplies mentioned, Gapan City’s LGU is also giving daing (dried fish), fresh eggs, and vegetables.

“On April 6, the mayor bought vegetable produce from the farmers and included them in the city's relief goods. "I also bought 10,000 pieces of chicken hamonado, holiday hams, and tocino that we distributed to every family," he continues.

The mayor said that buying the farmers’ produce is also his way of helping them, making sure that their products won’t go to waste. He proudly says that all of the rice the LGU is giving out are harvested from Gapan.

Providing financial assistance

For those who are watching, some may wonder why the good mayor went the extra length to do this. The reason is, the Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine displaced thousands of ordinary, self-employed workers in Gapan City.

He said that there are 12,800 tricycle drivers who can’t work these days, not to mention the jeepney drivers and other daily vendors. He revealed that apart from the food supplies and medicine kits, his office will also provide financial assistance to these displaced workers.

“I started distributing financial assistance to tricycle drivers, jeepney drivers, and bus vendors,” he says. “Dito sa amin kailangan lumabas ka at magtrabaho sa araw para pag-uwi mo sa gabi may maiuuwi kang pambili ng bigas (Here in Gapan City, people need to work every day, so they could earn money to bring home food at the night).”

As of writing, Gapan City has six Covid-19 positive cases. Mayor Emeng promised his people that he would do his best to protect them from this deadly disease and situation. “Ang katwiran ko, kung noong kampanya nakaya kong mag-house to house para makiusap sila, mas kaya kong maghouse to house ngayon para alamin ang kalagayan nila at alamin ang mga kailangan nila (If during the campaign period I was able to go house to house, the more I need to do it now, so I get to know their situation and their needs),” he says. “I told them to not thank me because it’s their money from their taxes, I’m just giving it back. It just happened that my family added a little amount. As their mayor, it’s my obligation and duty to serve them.”

He then asked his constituents not to worry and just stay at home and follow the law. Mayor Emeng says that even if the community quarantine gets extended, he will still do his best to provide food for everyone.

“Huwag kayong mag-alala, hindi ko kayo iiwan at hindi ako titigil sa paglabas sa kalsada para asikasuhin kung ano ang kailangan ninyo (Don’t worry, I am here. I will not stop going around so I can take care of your needs), he says. “Yung pinapadala kong bigas at pagkain, huwag niyong tipirin, kainin n’yo yan. Huwag naman sanang pahintulutan ng Panginoong Diyos ‘paginabot pa ulet ng isa pang buwan ang lockdown, isang sakong bigas pa ulit. Huwag kayong mag-alala walang magugutom sa Gapan, nandito ako (Eat the food that we gave you, don’t starve yourself. If this lockdown will extend for another month, we will distribute food once again. Don’t worry, no one will starve in Gapan for as long as I am here).”