By JOHN VINCENT B. TORIBIO

Concerted efforts continue for stranded students. 

A professor from the Department of Physical Education (DPE) of the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) initiated another donation drive for students of the university who have been staying in their boarding houses due to the lockdown imposed in the province. 

Professor Rowell C. Tagatac, also the chief for cultural development of the University, led the distribution of relief goods to 113 stranded students last April 20 and 21. Each student received a face mask, soap, toothpaste, dishwashing liquid, laundry detergent and a tray of egg. Each pack costs PhP 370. 

Tagatac said that he initiated the donation to make the students feel that they are not alone in this pandemic, despite of being away from their homes.

The initiative was made possible by the contributions of his friends from USA, Canada, Spain and Australia. Mr. Oliver Parbo, one of his friends who stay in Chicago, USA,  also helped Tagatac in the collection of amounts. 

His friends in Ilocos Norte and in Cagayan have also generously contributed for the donation drive. 

Tagatac said that upon contacting them, the purchase and repacking of goods immediately followed so as to instantly respond to the students’ weekly need of basic survival supplies.

This relief operation is part of the weekly distribution of goods to the said students being facilitated by the Office of Student Affairs and Services (OSAS) through its program dubbed as Oplan SAWAR (Students’ Activities, Whereabouts, and Recourse). 

The students have been stuck in their dormitories or apartments for more than a month now. Some of them come from different provinces in the country, such as, Cagayan, Apayao, Isabela, Ilocos Sur, Abra, La Union, Pangasinan, Benguet, Nueva Ecija, Quirino, Mountain Province, Bulacan, Batangas, Quezon, Cavite, Rizal, Iloilo, Negros Occidental, North Cotabato, Cebu, Cotabato and Surigao del Norte. Some students from various towns of Ilocos Norte were also not able to go home because of the ECQ.

Mitch Isip, a first year BS Education, major in Social Sciences student, expressed her gratitude to the university saying, “MMSU and other groups help us by all means, that they have to deliver the goods door-to-door just to make sure that we are doing okay – this is family.”