Mt province mayor declines relief goods, says others need them more

SADANGA, Mountain Province – The mayor of this fifth class municipality is being praised for waiving the relief packs intended for his constituents.

He decided to distribute them to cities and areas with the most number of poorest households.

On March 30, Sadanga Mayor Gabino Ganggangan received a message from the Municipal Social Welfare and Development Office some relief packs were already available for pick up at the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO) of the province’s capital Bontoc.

He said that his municipality will not be availing the goods even if the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) extends.

“Let the national government feed those more needy urban poors in the cities and those less fortunate in other areas who can’t sustain themselves, while we sustain ourselves while we can,” Ganggangan said in a statement.

According to the mayor, his refusal to accept the relief assistance is not because Sadanga doesn’t have poor and needy families to feed, but the community is living its practices and values as an ethnic group, where the nature of self-sustenance has been preserved over the years.

He said its own people are capable of taking care of each other, may it be kin, relatives, or even neighbors, especially in times of distress.

“It is during these kinds of economic hardships such as food shortages, hunger, and famine that the “richer or better of” (kadangyans) among a clan or village are expected to aid their needy relatives by lending their surpluses,” he added.

Should the crisis extend longer to the extent that Sadanga’s needy families would run out of supplies, Ganggangan said the local government will then mandate every barangay to open up their rice granaries (agamangs) to sustain the community until the next harvest season.

“I assure that no family shall go hungry in our municipality, even during these hard times,” he said.

Sadanga has around 8,700 population according to the last census in 2015. Frequent travelers would say the municipality is one of the hidden gems of the province, with