DAVAO DEL NORTE (PIA) --Senator Imee Marcos has hauled various assistance for indigent residents and small farmers of Davao del Norte during her two-day sorties in Tagum City and in the towns of Asuncion and Carmen.

She was met by a jubilant crowd chanting “Marcos pa rin” upon entering  the Davao del Norte Gym located at the Davao del Norte Sports and Tourism Complex just across the Provincial Capitol in Barangay Mankilam, Tagum City.

Aside from bringing along the distribution of P3,000 Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situations (AICS) from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to 1,000 indigent residents in the City of Tagum,  Marcos said she would also be leaving behind P5 million funds for various projects of marginalized groups of the elderly, tricycle drivers and small banana farmers.

Having noted some rice farmers in Davao del Norte, she promised to work for the release of P5,000 assistance for them from the Department of Agriculture (DA).

Marcos acknowledged the economic difficulty of Filipinos who struggled against high prices of basic commodities and fuel as an offshoot of the crisis caused by the COVID-19  pandemic, however, she assured that the lowly consumers would have alternative outlets to buy their food needs.

“May tindahan po tayo  na abot-kaya. Yan  ang Kadiwa stores; tindahan na hindi pumapatong (We have affordable stores. These are the Kadiwa  stores which do not mark up price),” she said.

Kadiwa stores are set up and run by DA with products directly coming from community farms.

Marcos also expressed the intention to bring back the “nutribuns” which are sizable breads blended with nutrients that used to be distributed free in public schools during the time of President Ferdinand E. Marcos in the 1970s.

The Senator brought along a nutri-bus distributing nutri-buns during her sortie in Davao del Norte.

She went to the Municipality of Asuncion, a 15-minute ride  from the city of Tagum to distribute AICS from DSWD.

Asuncion Municipal Information Officer Ronald Jayectin told PIA Davao  del  Norte Infocen that the Senator had casual interaction with some residents of “Waray-waray”  origin during Asuncion leg.

Meanwhile,  Marcos extended a  day of her Davao del Norte sortie in the municipality of Carmen where she also brought along AICS distribution to selected indigent residents.

In the areas she visited in Davao del Norte, she expressed gratitude to residents for casting a majority vote for President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and for Vice President Sara Duterte.  (JMDA/PIA XI)