AFP Lauded Community's Willpower

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 “We are gradually realizing our organization’s transformational roadmap. We wanted to make a difference in the way civilians treat us in much the same way that we wanted them to be our close allies.” These are the inspirational statements from Commanding Officer Ltc. Henry Bellen of the  53rd Engineer Brigade of the Armed Forces of the Philippines during the Ceremonial Hand-over of Php13,000 worth of cement mobilized through the voluntary efforts of  Pope Francis Village community members. The pooled community contributions is intended for the construction of AFP’s proposed Multi-purpose Hall Project at Kankabato, San Jose, Tacloban City.

Architect Rexan Rainer Cabangal, technical team representative
speaking on behalf of the communities of Pope Francis Village
and FRANCESCO during the ceremonial hand-over of materials
 to AFP held at Brgy. San Jose this morning.
Commanding Officer Ltc. Henry Bellen expressing his gratitude
to the community leaders of Pope Francis Village and technical
team representatives for their donations for
 AFP's  multi-purpose hall project.
Since the collaboration with AFP started, Pope Francis Village has significantly
benefited from the agency’s heavy equipment and army engineers assisting in ground development at the relocation site. Similar initiatives are also happening in other Typhoon Yolanda-affected areas where the AFP has strong buy-in for community infrastructure projects and where resource counter-parting scheme is adopted involving the local stakeholders.

Commanding Officer Ltc. Henry Bellen delivering his response message.
“We were able to generate fifty-four bags of cement from the amount that we’ve collected in just one week. Our minimum individual contribution was pegged at Php20.00. That’s not surprising because everyone in the community knows that the AFP is actively supporting the development of our relocation site”, says Estrella Ambid, one of the community members of Pope Francis Village.
AFP personnel unloading the fifty-four bags of
cement donated by members of Pope Francis Village.
This demonstration of community’s collective effort was lauded by the entire AFP brigade. From this experience, community members not only exhibit a great sense of volunteerism by merging their scant resources but also proven that something big can be done if they converge to attain a desired output.


 
The members of the 53rd Engineer Brigade paying
tribute to Pope Francis Village community.

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