LEGAZPI CITY – Mayon-affected families in Albay province recently received PHHP2.2 million of family emergency kits from two mining firms operating in Masbate province.
Marionne Ruiz, spokesperson of Filminera Resources Corp. (FRC), said inside a family emergency kit are solar lights, a household water filtration system containing two water buckets with lids, a spigot, a sponge, and a filter, and hygiene kits with several pieces of soap, a toothbrush, and toothpaste.
“With Filminera Resources Corporation (FRC) and Phil. Gold Processing & Refining Corp. (PGPRC),’s partnership with Global Medic, a humanitarian aid organization based in Ontario, Canada, more than 2,000 families in Legazpi City, Daraga and other affected towns in Albay received the family emergency kits. Filminera, Phil. Gold and GlobalMedic have been giving aid to calamity-stricken communities since 2021, having distributed family emergency kits during Typhoon Rolly and Typhoon Odette,” Ruiz said.
She said the donation of family emergency kits from GlobalMedic arrived in May 2023 from Ontario, Canada, and were turned over to the Department of Social Welfare and Development in Bicol (DSWD-5), Masbate Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO) Aroroy Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (MDRRMO ) and Philippine Society of Mining Engineers, Inc. (PSEM) Albay / Legazpi Chapter.
“The kits were distributed in Matanag, Mabinit at Bonga Evacuation Areas in Legazpi City, Gabawan Evacuation Area in Daraga and Comun Elementary School in Camalig,” she added.
Since 2021, Filminera, PGPRC and GlobalMedic partnership donated PHP6.8 million to calamity-stricken areas in the country.
“Aside from the PHP2.2 million for Albay province, the partnership donated PHP3.2 million in fire-fighting gear and 1,584 family emergency kits to fire departments in Manila, Masbate and Leyte. During Typhoon Rolly in 2021 and Typhoon Odette in 2022, they have also given PHP1.4 million emergency kits to typhoon victims,” she said.
Filminera holds the mining tenements in the Masbate Gold Project site while PGPRC operates the processing plant. PGPRC is fully owned by B2Gold Corp., one of the world’s largest gold producers with headquarters in Vancouver, Canada, and three operating gold mines and numerous development and exploration projects in various countries including Mali, the Philippines, Namibia, Canada, Colombia, Finland and Uzbekistan. I Connie Calipay
Photos: Filminera