MALUNGON, Sarangani: World lightweight boxing champion Manny ?PacMan? Pacquiao brought in late last week, multimillion worth of hospital beds and other medical equipments to enhance medical facilities for the needy.
The less than a hundred steel sanatorium beds, medicine cabinets and meal tables for patients arrived in Malungon from the United States, a day before Pacquiao returned from a concert tour in Guam. The materials were loaded in two 40-footer and one 20-footer container vans, Mayor Reynaldo Constatino of Malungon told The Manila Times, Wednesday.
While the boxing champion refused to divulge the exact value of the health facilities, Constantino said Pacquiao paid some P281,000 for freight and transportation from Manila City to Makar Wharf in General Santos City.
?I think there?s no need for me to tell how much everything costs. The more important thing is that these things to reach the people of Sarangani,? said Pacquiao in the vernacular, even as he vehemently denied public conjecture that the aid he (Pacquiao) is extending the people of Sarangani is in preparation for his bid for a congressional seat in the coming 2010 national elections.
?Alam naman ng lahat na kahit saan ako nakakarating ay tumutulong ako?t namamahagi ng mga biyayang bigay sa akin ng Diyos. Kaya?t wala naman po sigurong masama kung bibigyan ko ng tulong ang mga taong higit na nangangailangan nito. [I think everybody knows that I am really sharing what God has given me even during my trip to other places. And I think helping the unfortunate is not a felony],? Pacquiao said.
Malungon Mayor Reynaldo ?Bong? Constantino, Pacquiao?s official spokesman for political affairs, said Pacquiao?s latest donation would be of great help to upgrade the facilities of the municipal hospital of Malungon town.
?Aside from MMH, some of these beds and medical facilities will be distributed to all day care and barangay health centers in all the 31 barangays that comprises this municipality,? Constantino said.
According to Nonito Nu?ez, Municipal Planning and Development Officer (MPDO), Constantino is planning to give two beds to each barangay health and day care centers, including the senior citizens office and some laying-in centers in the locality.
?These additional hospital materials are only among the string of assistance that Paquiao gave to Malungon in a bid to uplift and help the plight of our constituents,? Nu?ez said.
After the formal turnover, Pacquiao and Mayor Constantino went to Barangay Malungon Gamay Elementary School to where the former donated P100,000 to school authorities.
Nu?ez said the assistance was intended to support Constantino?s ?Adopt-a-School? project, which aims to provide educational opportunities to poor children in the depressed villages.
Homeward bound, Pacquiao passed Banate National High School to extend P150,000 monetary assistance for the repair of the school?s dilapidated basketball court. Constantino also extended a counterpart funding for the Unicef-funded potable water system project in the school.
Information stressed another fleet of US-made vehicles composed of school bus, police patrol car, ambulance and a fire truck is now set for delivery to Malungon town. The same comes from the ?Pacman.?
?Some people may wonder why I keep extending my thanks to Pacquiao every time I have a chances to do so. Also I kept telling my people that we are very lucky to have someone like Pacquiao in our municipality because nobody in this world owns the likes of Pacman?s heart,? Constantino said.
Pacquiao said what he does is not only intended for Malungon but the entire province of Sarangani.
Reliable sources said Pacquiao would soon be going around Sarangani to see for himself in what way he could be of help to the poor constituents of the 14O barangays that comprises the entire province.
