DAET, Camarines Norte --- Bringing with them 2,200 food packs in carton boxes printed with “DepEd Food for School Program,” Sen. Edgardo Angara’s group and a civic group called Bikol Ako came down Tuesday to this town and the towns of San Vicente and Mercedes, all of this province, to respond to the needs of evacuees affected by heavy flooding last Sunday.

        Asked why the carton boxes were printed with the “DepEd Food for School Program” and yet the activity of donation brings the name and photo of the senator in tarpaulin streamer, Bobby Ang, who said he is an all-around Bicol assistant to Angara replied that “it’s because the supplier of the DepEd and the senator’s is the same”.

        The carton boxes were likewise printed with “Fortified Instant Noodles with Eggs in Beef Flavor.”

        “We are allowed to use that (carton boxes with printed “DepEd Food for School Program”)”, Ang quipped.

        The activity has been coordinated by “Bikol Ako,” a civic group of Bicolanos mostly from Albay province allied to Zaldy Co, a known big contractor and now a rising real estate developer.

        Arriving sometime noon here, the convoy went straight ahead to San Vicente west of this town and turned over to Mayor Stanley Alegre 500 food packs. From there, the convoy went east of this town to Mercedes where 1,000 food packs were given.

        Each food pack could be enough for one meal of an average family, according to Rochel of Bikol Ako, who invited the Bicol Mail to cover the occasion.

        A local network with 20 radio stations in Legazpi, Naga and Daet aired specific accounts of the activity, including live interviews with personalities involved in the operation. The distribution of the food packs in the three towns in Camarines Norte wound up in Daet municipal building where Mayor Tito Sarte Sarion received 700 food packs.