Over 6,000 residents from Albay and Camarines Sur were given access to clean drinking water through LandBank’s Gawad KATUBIGAN (KAakibat na TUlong sa Bayan sa Inumung KailanGAN).
Last March, LandBank successfully turned over 60 water filtration units to Bicolanos devastated by Typhoon “Usman,” which hit the country late last year. Albay and Camarines Sur were among the areas heavily affected.
Marilou Villafranca, LANDBANK First Vice President for Southeast Luzon Branches Group, also turned over LandBank’s donation of P1.215 million to the provinces of Camarines Sur and Albay. This will benefit 16 cities and municipalities in both areas.
Gawad KATUBIGAN is the Bank’s way to reach out to more Filipinos in remote areas who do not have access or have limited access to potable water.
Accredited by the Department of Health, the water filtration systems have the ability to remove 99.99 percent of bacteria that cause water-borne diseases such as cholera, salmonella, E. coli, and other bacterial illnesses.
Each water filtration system, which can filter one million gallons of water, can provide clean drinking water for 100 people a day and can last for five to 10 years, if properly maintained.
Implemented in partnership with W4W Philippines, Gawad KATUBIGAN is one of the Bank’s Corporate Social Responsibility Programs, which started as a small disaster response project in 2015.
Its primary objective is to provide water filtration systems to typhoon-hit areas and hard-to-reach communities that need access to clean and safe drinking water.
The project has since been expanded into a full-blown program with three components: a “Disaster Response Component” through which water filter systems are provided to calamity-stricken areas; a “Disaster Preparedness Component” which provides rain catchment systems and disaster preparedness training to communities in disaster-prone areas; and a “Needs-based Component” where LANDBANK, upon the endorsement of its branches nationwide, provides rain catchment and filtration systems to far-flung communities with limited or no access to clean drinking water.