Albay women's group sends 'kamote' to Taal

Members of a women's organization in Guinobatan, Albay harvest their "kamote" or sweet potatoes on Monday (Jan. 27, 2020) to be sent to Batangas as their way of helping the Taal Volcano eruption victims. The women plant sweet potatoes under the “I Love Kamote" program established through the help of former Rep. Fernando Gonzales (Photo courtesy of Rep. Fernando Cabredo)

GUINOBATAN, Albay --- Hundreds of kilos of "kamote" or sweet potatoes were harvested on Monday, Jan. 27 by members of a women's group here to be sent to the victims of the Taal Volcano eruption.

Albay 3rd district Rep. Fernando Cabredo, in an interview, confirmed that the group is preparing their harvest to be sent to the families who are still housed in evacuation centers in Batangas province.

“Aside from kamote, they are also planning to harvest pechay to give the Taal victims fresh vegetables,” he said.

Cabredo said the would-be donors are one of “I Love Kamote" program beneficiary groups established through the help of former Rep. Fernando Gonzales.

“The women's organizations in Guinobatan consist mainly of ordinary housewives who have formed themselves a group and engaged in camote planting,” he added.

There are 120 groups -- which are named after the village where the women reside -- in the third district of Albay, and 30 members per chapter.

The "I love Kamote" program aims to help families earn additional income and alleviate their plight.

Cabredo said during his barangay visitation in Muladbucad Grande in this town, women cultivating their crops inside Mt. Mayon's danger zone told him that they want to help the Taal Volcano eruption victims and volunteered to give their harvested sweet potatoes to the evacuees.

Some members of the women's organization even expressed their desire to join the relief operations so they could talk with the evacuees and give them some advice on how they could recover from their tragedy.

"They want to give some advice about what they have also suffered during the long eruption of Mayon Volcano, during typhoons and other calamities that have stricken Albay,” Cabredo added. (PNA)