Press Release
SMART assists families displaced by attacks in Mindanao
[August 21, 2008/ Manila] - Leading wireless services provider Smart Communications, Inc. (SMART) helped conduct a series of relief operations in Mindanao for families displaced from their homes as a result of armed hostilities.
In cooperation with the local chapters of the Philippine National Red Cross, SMART employee-volunteers distributed relief goods in the cities of Iligan and Ozamis and the province of Sarangani.
In Ozamis, relief goods were distributed to some 350 families staying at the Misamis Annex Elementary School and Maningco Elementary School. The relief operations held in Iligan at the Iligan Central School benefited some 333 families. Relief packs were also distributed to affected families from the towns of Kiamba and Maasim in Sarangani Province.
Through the efforts of the PLDT-Smart Foundation, 2,150 families also received relief goods. The distribution was coursed through the Philippine Business for Social Progress and the Kadtuntaya Foundation, Inc. (KFI), which brought the relief goods to 14 schools serving as evacuation centers in the towns of Aleosan and Pikit in North Cotabato.
In addition to the relief operations, SMART also set up a Libreng Tawag station at the Iligan City National High School.
Almost 270,000 persons from the provinces of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, Northen Mindanao and SOCSARGEN were displaced by the fighting between the military forces and armed groups, according to a report of the National Disaster Coordinating Council.
Photo shows the evacuees staying at Iligan City National High School availing of the Libreng Tawag service. Right photo shows the relief operations organized by SMART and PNRC in Ozamis.
