Bancambulansya donated to Daanbatayan, Cebu
Cemex Philippines Foundation recently turned over a fully equipped “Bancambulansya” to the Municipality of Daanbantayan in northern Cebu. Bancambulansya is a hybrid vessel that serves as a boat for water search and rescue missions while also serving as a regular ambulance that enables patients to be immediately rescued or transferred from farflung islands to the hospital.
Daanbantayan Mayor Augusto Corro said the boat ambulance is exactly the kind of marine vehicle that coastal villages like Daanbantayan in Cebu needs. “The boat ambulance will be very helpful not just for transporting patients from the coastal areas to the mainland but also for water search and rescue missions,” he said. “Rest assured that our municipality will take good care of the bancambulansya.”
The Cemex Bancambulansya will be docked at Malapascua and Carnaza and will be made to patrol the municipality’s 15 coastal barangays. Their fishing ground is around 400 to 500 square kilometers, which is considered quite large.
“Please take it to heart that Cemex Philippines Foundation is very happy to have helped you in our own meaningful ways. Although the typhoon brought very distressing events, it also brought out the good and best in people -- the kindness and malasakit (care) from every person, not just from fellow Filipinos but also from concerned individuals and groups abroad,” said Paul Vincent Arcenas, Cemex Philippines vice president for strategic planning.
“Apart from the projects we have completed with your help, we will always treasure the relationship we have built with your municipality,” added Arcenas who also serves as board member of the Cemex Philippines Foundation.
Aside from the boat ambulance donation, Cemex, through the help of Apo Cement’s Emergency Response Team led by Ariel Lazarte, also conducted a water search and rescue training for Daanbantanyan’s Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council.
The onslaught of Super Typhoon Haiyan in 2013 left the 15 coastal barangays of the municipality in a state of distress and calamity.
Most of the families were forced out of their homes to find a safer location during the disaster but upon their return, they no longer have roofs or walls to shelter them.