By Victoria “NIKE” De Dios
As thousands of houses in the National Capital Region and nearby provinces of Rizal, Cavite, Bulacan and Pampanga were submerged in floodwaters brought about by heavy and sustained rainfalls that resulted in many families to be homeless and forced to seek refuge on the rooftops as they wait to be rescued by authorities.
The provinces of Catanduanes, Camarines Sur, Camarines Norte, Aurora and Quezon province were hardly hit as typhoon Ulysses made landfall. It was a double whammy for people living in these areas as they were still trying to recover from the aftermath of super typhoon Rolly just days before this typhoon came.
Aware of the immediate concerns and help of the victims, RCBC and the AY Foundation, Inc. launched the “Kapit-bisig ScanTulong Sulong #Ulysses” fund drive.
This fund drive aims to provide relief and assistance to thousands of families devastated by typhoon Ulysses that swept several provinces of Luzon on November 12, 2020.
As of this writing, many roads and other infrastructures were heavily damaged by landslides and floods in the northern Luzon provinces of Ilocos Norte, Cagayan, Isabela, Nueva Viscaya, Quirino Kalinga, Apayao, Ifugao and Benguet.
The inevitable damage to the properties and infrastructures were estimated to be at Php 4.254 billion as estimated by the Department of Public Works and Highways as of Friday morning.
RCBC and AY Foundation, Inc. appeal to the Filipino “Bayanihan” spirit leveraging on RCBC’s digital platforms such as its mobile app and DiskarTech through the use of interoperable quick response (QR) PH code standard as mandated by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). Through this initiative, account holders with mobile apps of other QRph-capable banks and mobile wallets can also donate by scanning the fund drive’s QRph. Aside from RCBC and DiskarTech mobile apps, they can use the mobile apps of Asia United Bank, BDO, DCPay or Coins.ph, Chinabank, Landbank, PayMaya, PSBank and UnionBank.
“Once again the resilience of the Filipino is put to the test. RCBC is here to make sure that spirit of Bayanihan and camaraderie in helping each other while optimizing the benefits of this interoperable digital aid initiative”, said Lito Villanueva, RCBC executive vice president and chief innovation and inclusion officer.