The recent typhoons that pummeled Luzon and many other parts of the country highlighted the value of all-weather roadways like the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway in delivering much-needed relief and rehabilitation services to hard-hit areas.
While most road networks were either blocked by pockets of landslides or went underwater and rendered impassable to passenger buses and even heavy-duty vehicles, travel along the expressway remained unimpeded, enabling rescue and relief workers to reach their target destinations with minimum delay.
Vehicles transporting relief goods and volunteer workers to the disaster sites were also able to shuttle back and forth fast along the expressway even as some towns and cities in Central and Northern Luzon regions were still inundated due to the continuous rains spawned by typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng that swept the country early this month.
Among the early contingents of relief and rescue workers that reached via SCTEX the submerged communities in Dagupan City and the towns of Mangaldan and San Fabian in Pangasinan were elements of the Philippine National Red Cross chaired by Senator Richard Gordon.
Retired Brig. Gen. Robert Gervacio, SCTEX program manager for operational support, said help from Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority and the Clark Freeport Zone immediately reached the provinces of Pangasinan, Nueva Ecija, Zambales, Tarlac, Benguet, Pampanga and Bulacan and Baguio City because of the SCTEX.
“The impact of the prompt arrival of relief and rehabilitation workers, along with the relief goods, at the disaster areas can never be quantified in terms of human lives saved and other benefits to help ease the pain and sufferings of the typhoon victims,” Gervacio stressed.
SBMA chairman Armand Arreza also mobilized teams to help in packaging food items and other relief goods for various evacuation centers and villagers isolated by the floods, landslides and mudflows.
Apart from donating cash and relief goods, locators in Clark and Subic also deployed some of their personnel as volunteers to the relief and evacuation centers.
