Tanong ni Heart kay Chiz: Tama bang mag-donate ng bigas, de-lata, noodles sa mga bakwit?

NAGKAROON ng makabuluhan at mainitang chikahan ang mag-asawang Heart Evangelista at Gov. Chiz Escudero tungkol sa “Filipino resiliency” o ang pagiging matatag at palaban ng Pinoy.

Sa latest vlog ng Kapuso actress na may titulong “Adulting with Chiz,” napag-usapan ng mag-asawa ang pagiging resilient ng Filipino na palaging ginagamit ng mga politiko sa tuwing may kinakaharap na problema ang bansa.

Pati ang isyu sa pagdo-donate ng relief packs sa tuwing may krisis o kalamidad ay pinagdiskusyunan ng celebrity couple. Ang punto ni Chiz, mahalagang malaman ng mga nagbibigay ng ayuda kung ano, kailan at para kanino ang donasyon.

“What’s important when you donate is to actually look at the people who are in need of donations. Most people, some people, simply to make them feel good, put five kilos of rice, some pieces of canned goods, some instant noodles, coffee, they pack it, they give it to a person whose house was flooded or whose house was inundated totally by flood or whose house caught fire,” paliwanag ng gobernador ng Sorsogon.

Aniya pa, ang mga taong ito ay nawalan ng bahay na pansamantalang naninirahan sa  evacuation centers kaya wala silang resources para magluto.

“But then every day if you think about it from his or her perspective, meaning the victim’s family, they are currently in an evacuation center how can they cook five kilos of rice? How are they going to heat the coffee they got or the noodles they got?” sabi pa ng asawa ni Heart.

“What they need immediately after a typhoon would be a soup kitchen, a hot meal, that’s readily available right then and there. Otherwise, mostly what you see on TV is they distribute relief packs, a photo op here and there. As soon as the person returns to the evacuation center, he or she will just stare at it.

“Relief packs would come in probably a week or two weeks after once the flood waters have come down and once they’ve started actually rebuilding their homes and their lives, that’s where it would come in,” esplika pa niya.

Hirit naman ni Heart, “Yeah, but like for example, I mean I also donated rice and all of that. My heart was there. What did I do wrong? What should I do?”

Sagot ni Chiz, “In your case, the rice you donated in Sorsogon, we used in our soup kitchen. We bought something like isang daang kaldero para maka-distribute kami sa mga stranded na nagbibyahe papuntang Visayas at Mindanao. Para maka-distribute kami ng mga hot meals sa mga evacuation centers.

“But if it’s already packed, meaning the relief packs, what we do is we give it out by way of food for work. If someone donates cash, we give it by way of cash for work. In exchange, we ask them to help clean the barangay or help the neighbors fix their houses.

“Hindi niya sariling bahay. Para you get to double the effort and at the same time, you don’t promote a culture of mendicancy.

“You give them dignity, you give them pride in their own work and in rebuilding their own lives,” sey pa niya.

“Yeah, because you know, you see people begging and all of that. Kawawa naman,” chika ng Kapuso actress.

“Kawawa din. Pero mas matagal silang magiging kawawa kung hinayaan mo ring ganu’n,” sey naman ni Chiz.

At sa tanong nga ni Heart kung tama bang lagi na lang ginagamit ang “resiliency” ng mga Pinoy sa tuwing may kalamidad, trahedya at krisis, sey ni Chiz, “Na tawaging resilient ang Pilipino, okay lang. Puri ‘yun sa sambayanang Pilipino. Pero hindi dahilan ‘yun para hindi nila gawin ang trabaho nila. Or para magkulang sila sa dapat nilang ginagawa.

“The government was faulted for calling the Filipino people resilient. That by itself, there’s nothing wrong with that as long as I said they still did their part and not simply rely on the so-called resiliency of the people,” paliwanag pa ng mister ni Heart.