Around sixty participants composed of community volunteers, municipal officials and employees, and representatives of national government agencies join all together for the “Bayanihan sa Apang”.

Dubbed as “Bayanihan sa Apang”, various local and national sectors joined forces with the community volunteers in Apang, Alilem, Ilocos Sur for one day during the construction of the suspension bridge, a sub-project of Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan – Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services or Kalahi-CIDSS of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Field Office 1.

Around sixty (60) participants simultaneously pulled the main cable steel wires across Bakun River, the site of the sub-project, in a display of “bayanihan” or unity and cooperation, a famous Filipino tradition.

The event is a brainchild of the community volunteers who suggested the use of physical labor in laying the main cable steel wires during a barangay assembly because of the presence of boulders along the river bank that made impossible for the use of heavy equipment.

A memorandum was issued by the Municipal Mayor enjoining all sectors to participate in the activity.

The participants are Municipal Officials and Employees of said town together with representatives of National Government Agencies like the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP), Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), Department of Justice (DOJ), Commission on Election (COMELEC) and the Philippine National Police (PNP).

Staff from other DSWD programs like the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (PPPP) and the Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP) also took part in the said activity. (by Ruperto A. Sabalo, Jr., Social Marketing Officer, Kalahi-CIDSS)