How Odette-ravaged island province kicked off local campaign season

March 28, 2022 - 10:27 PM
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Dinagat Islands produce
Fresh produce being sold in Dinagat Islands in this photo uploaded by the Dinagat Islands Provincial Information Office on Facebook on March 25, 2022. (Facebook/DinagatIslandsPIO)

A group of islands in the Caraga Region kicked off the start of the local campaign season by celebrating its constituents’ harvest following the havoc bought by Typhoon Odette last year.

Information Officer Jeff Crisostomo of the Dinagat Islands Provincial Office tweeted that they did not choose to start the campaign period by launching grand rallies or motorcades, unlike other localities.

The campaign period for the 2022 local elections are from March 25 to May 7.

“On Day 1, we choose not to campaign through grand rallies or motorcades. Instead, we celebrate the bountiful harvest of our farmers,” Crisostomo said on Twitter last Friday.

He also shared a picture of Dinagat Islands Gov. Kaka Bag-ao posing with her constituents.

“The seeds that the Provincial Government gave them as relief after the typhoon have been reaped and are now ready to go to the tables of Dinagatnons,” Crisostomo added in another tweet.

“We fight poverty together. We fight hunger together. We survived a typhoon and we will continue to thrive,” he continued.

Dinagat Islands was among the most devastated provinces in the wake of “Odette” (international name: Rai) which traversed the Philippines on Christmas month.

RELATED: ‘Odette’ approaches Dinagat islands, Siargao as tens of thousands evacuate

The typhoon had affected areas on Mimaropa and the regions of Visayas and Mindanao.

It is also considered the strongest tropical cyclone to hit the country in 2021.

Last December, residents of the Dinagat Islands penned letters to their relatives to let them know that they were okay amid the loss of network signal and electricity at that time.

A month after the typhoon, it was reported that Bag-ao still lived in a tent.