HUNDREDS of poor residents in Macabalan village were given free "lugaw" on Saturday, February 25 to launch the "Kusina sa Mindanao" project of the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP–Laban) in Cagayan de Oro city.
"Kusina sa Mindanao" aims to be a mobile soup kitchen project which, through donations will roam the poorest cities of Mindanao to feed impoverished citizens most especially the children. This project is connected to the recently launched 'Duterte's Kitchen-Cagayan de Oro' last February 18.
"Unlike the Duterte's Kitchen though, we aim to be able to move, to be mobile so that the poor communities can be discovered and that our poor families will not have to go anywhere for food," said Gusa village captain Marlon Tabac, project coordinator for Mindanao.
A similar concept of "Kusina sa Mindanao" has already been launched in other cities in Luzon and Visayas for the past year. This year, PDP-Laban aims to broaden its reach by initiating this project in Mindanao.
"However, we will not be a regular service in most communities that we will go to. Depending on the resources such as donations, we will be able to feed poor communities for, say, every fifteenth day," Tabac said.
Tabac said that with their partner projects like the Duterte's Kitchen, poor families will still have a place to go for food the food that they need.
While the project is a Koko Pimentel and President Duterte supporters' initiative, Tabac said that he and his partners in this project are still open and grateful for any donations from willing benefactors.
"We will accept almost anything as long as it can be beneficial to our poor especially to their children. Your 500 pesos might be small but it can go a long way by feeding our impoverished youth," Tabac said.
In the next months, the project will not only try to reach the poorest areas in the city but will go as far as Bukidnon, Surigao, or Butuan to find more poor beneficiaries especially those in rural areas.
Tabac also said that their group spearheaded this project as a way for them to celebrate the 31st Edsa Revolution Anniversary with a fresher perspective and thrust. PDP-Laban was founded in 1982 by Aquilino Pimentel, Jr. and a group of protesters against the authoritarian government of Ferdinand Marcos, the 10th President of the Philippines.
"We are doing this especially now, in these days when we are commemorating the Edsa People Power because we have been marching all these years in Divisoria and we are not only tired but are thirsty for change. By exhausting all our efforts to feed those who are less fortunate, we are giving justice to what the people in EDSA fought for in those days," he said.