Dr. Victoria Belo and Manila Mayor Isko Moreno. Image: Instagram.com/@victoria_belo
Celebrity doctor Victoria “Vicki” Belo is set to donate to quake-hit Mindanao, thanking Manila Mayor Isko Moreno for convincing her to lend a helping hand and teaching her “a lot of life lessons” over coffee.
Belo took to Instagram yesterday, Nov. 2, to thank Moreno for making her realize the importance of perspective, and how “life really depends on how you look at things.”
“It is during this conversation that he convinced me to lend a helping hand to our brothers and sisters affected by the earthquake in Cotabato. Yorme said we are lucky,” she said. “His words still linger with me until now, ‘Ang daming tao na naghahanap kung sino ang tutulong sa kanila. Tayo, pumipili tayo ng kaya nating tulungan.'”
(A lot of people are looking for someone to help them. We, meanwhile, are choosing who we get to help.)
This October, North Cotabato and other parts of Mindanao suffered three strong earthquakes with magnitudes 6.3 (Oct. 16), 6.6 (Oct. 29) and 6.5 (Oct. 31) and hundreds of aftershocks, as per the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.
At least over 178,000 people (around 35,000 families) were affected by said tremors, which left 21 people dead. At least 432 were injured while two are still missing, according to the NDRRMC’s report released earlier today.
Moreno has recently donated P5 million worth of his talent fees to Cotabato. Belo’s donation remains undisclosed, as of this writing. She also appealed to the public to help quake-hit Cotabato.
“Praying for our (countrymen) in Cotabato and appealing to everyone to help in any way we can,” she said. “We will see this through. God bless the Philippines.” JB
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