Shell augments relief efforts in CamSur coastal town
Pasacao, a third-class town in Camarines Sur in the Bicol region, is home to some 50,000 residents whose main source of income is farming and fishery, and employment at the port and some private firms.
“Even if not everyone fully understands COVID-19, all of them have to comply with the lockdown so of course, they are worried about where they are going to get their next meal,” says Pasacao CamSur Mayor Nino A. Tayco.
Those delivering farm and fishery products are also finding it difficult to reach markets outside the town, so they are forced to sell these products at a lower cost, he adds.
There is not much activity at the national port in Pasacao, which is the main point of entry by sea in Camarines Sur and where cargo ships unload their goods. Travel is at a standstill so there are no tourists or even locals to ferry from the Pasacao municipal port to Daruanak island or to the town of San Pascual in Masbate, which hosts numerous white sand island beaches.
What makes it difficult, Tayco says, is that their supplies and resources are limited and help takes a long time coming because of their distance from the national and provincial governments.
“Relief assistance is not enough,” says Christopher Imperial, one of 3,800 residents of Barangay Sta. Rosa del Sur in Pasacao. His family has received only five kilos of rice since the declaration of the lockdown.
[Christopher Imperial with his family is among those who received relief package from Pilipinas Shell during the ECQ.] Pilipinas Shell is one of three oil companies that maintains a depot in Barangay Sta. Rosa del Sur. The Shell Pasacao Terminal remains operational despite the lockdown to continue serving the fuel needs of basic goods and service providers in the Bicol region. |
said Barangay Sta. Rosa del Sur Chairman Boncodin. These include farm and fishery training, livelihood assistance, educational support for elementary schools, health and nutrition program, road safety training and disaster response.

Enhanced Community Quarantine,
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