Soldiers build furniture to raise funds for Bohol, Zamboanga City
AP FILE Photo
MANILA, Philippines — Using fallen trees, these government troopers have found a way to help residents of Zamboanga City and Bohol province rise from the recent man-made and natural calamities that devastated their communities.
Soldiers belonging to the Northern Luzon Command (Nolcom) have momentarily traded their guns for chisels and mallets to make furniture out of hardwood trees, which were uprooted inside their two main camps when Typhoon “Santi” wrought havoc in Central and Northern Luzon in October.
Maj. Gen. Gregorio Catapang, Nolcom commander, said on Sunday, the soldiers initiated the project, dubbed “Bagsak Presyo Sale, Help for Zambo and Bohol,” to help raise funds for the victims of the Moro rebels siege in Zamboanga and the deadly 7.2-magnitude earthquake that shook Bohol.
He noted that his men thought of the project despite them being victims, too, of the typhoon, which left 15 people dead and affected close to 1 million people in Central and Northern Luzon, Cordillera, Mimaropa and Bicol regions.
Santi also destroyed P46 million worth of military structures and equipment in Camp Servillano Aquino in Tarlac City and in Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija, the official said.
“(The project) is intended to show solidarity among us who have been equally devastated by natural and man-made disasters,” Catapang said in an emailed statement.
“Let us all unite to fight and survive climate change. Let us all unite to abhor and stop violence that usually affects more the innocent and non-combatants,” he added.
Although Santi felled hundreds of hardwood trees, including decades-old mahogany and acacia trees, inside the two military camps, Catapang said it also gave them an opportunity to help victims of other calamities.
He said Nolcom personnel pledged to complete 1,000 sets of furniture such as sala sets, dining tables, cabinets and TV racks in the second week of December.
They would then sell the wooden fixtures to the public on Dec. 16 in Camp Servillano Aquino, an Army camp named in honor of President Aquino’s grandfather.
“(The furniture) will be sold to help in the rebuilding of Zamboanga City, (which was) devastated by the bloody attack of (Moro rebels) in September, and of Bohol, where most buildings and houses, including historic structures, were damaged,” he said.
Catapang said the proceeds of the project would then be donated equally to Zamboanga and Bohol villages early next year.
