By DANIEL P. TAPAOAN, JR.

The MMSU Alumni Relations Office (ARO), together with the Federated Alumni Association, Inc. (FAAI), will distribute food packs to all MMSU students stranded in their boarding houses due to the extended Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) in Luzon.

Prof. Ryan Dean Sucgang, ARO chief, said around PhP 60,000 has already been allotted to purchase goods. The amount is a fund of the FAAI from its share in the Alumni ID Card program.

In partnership with the City Government of Batac, the alumni office and association will distribute the food packs to the stranded students within this week, Prof. Sucgang said.

A total of 125 students from the different colleges of MMSU were not able to go home since the ECQ took effect, according to the university’s Office of Student Affairs and Services (OSAS).

To help these students, the university, through the OSAS, has provided food rations and offered online counseling services and psychosocial support to them.

Last week, the university also gave Php 500 cash aid to each student while waiting for the replenishment of supplier stocks. 

Likewise, several colleges of the university and the College of Arts and Sciences Alumni Association recently launched a fund-raising drive for the students and front-liners. 

These initiatives are all part of the “Saranay Against COVID-19” program, the university’s bayanihan effort to help individuals and groups cope with the effects of the pandemic. (StratCom)