SAN JUAN, Abra – The Turismo Isulong Mo Party-list heeded the call for help from the various local governments that were battered by Tropical Storm Odette by extending the much-needed relief assistance to the different affected communities in Visayas and Mindanao over the past several weeks.
Former Mayor Marco Bautista, who is the party-list group’s second nominee, disclosed that the members of the organization pooled their available resources and distributed to the identified beneficiaries the relief goods that they were able to generate from their ranks as part of the groups’ commitment to help in allowing the affected residents to recover from the impact of the calamity.
He claimed that the Turismo Isulong Mo Party-list turned over to the beneficiaries their immediate needs such s used clothing, rice, coffee, sugar and most especially potable water.
The former local chief executive stipulated that the donation is just the initial wave of support that will be extended by the organization to the calamity-stricken areas as they will do another round of relief operation once there will be available resources that will be pooled not only from the members but also other concerned tourism industry stakeholders and other donors who are willing to help in the ongoing recovery and relief operations in the said places.
Turismo Isulong Mo Party-list will serve as the united voice of the tourism industry in the halls of Congress with its advocacy on education, employment and livelihood for the Filipino people.
Bautista expressed his gratitude to all those, who in one way or the other, contributed to the initial success of the group’s relief operations in the calamity-stricken areas of Visayas and Mindanao, saying that their support went a long way in making the beneficiaries relieved from their harrowing experience and which provided them the hope to be able to recover from the wrath of the weather disturbance and aggravated by the ongoing Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
He rallied concerned sectors to sustain their support to the party-list group’s ongoing relief operations in the heavily devastated areas in Visayas and Mindanao because they want the affected people to be able to recover from the effects of the weather disturbance and to allow the local tourism industry to also recover after it was also battered by the typhoon that visited the country late last year.
Bautista recognized the important contribution of tourism to the country’s overall economy that is why the said sector has to be revived and revitalized after the weather disturbance and the ongoing pandemic so that it will be able to regain its vibrance and provide increased employment opportunities for the people and further improved the established sources of livelihood of the residents that rely on tourism as their major source of income.
He emphasized the need for the tourism sector to regain its vibrance once the pandemic is over to help in bringing back the available jobs for the people and the economic activities that allowed them to have their own sources of livelihood in the past.
