Aid or no aid, life goes on
GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews / 27 July 2026) — While many residents of Lower Puting Bato in Barangay Calumpang were still washing off mud from their homes after flood waters swept through the community, 70-year-old Benvenido Diana was doing something else –earning a living at Barangay Calumpang Gymnasium.
In front of him were roasted peanuts sold for ₱10 a pack, alongside cellophanes of pineapple juice worth ₱5 and ₱10.
“It’s a waste to let the opportunity pass when there are people around. I might as well sell because this is the only livelihood I have,” he said in the vernacular.
Asked why he immediately resumed selling despite being among those affected by the flooding, Diana did not hesitate.
“You just keep working because there’s no other way to earn a living. That’s all I can do. Even if I’m already 70, I will continue working. I don’t want to depend on the assistance. But if the government extends help, I will gladly accept it,” Diana said.
Diana recalled receiving government assistance only once before, after the magnitude 7.8 earthquake that struck Mindanao, when he was given ₱5,000.
He has yet to receive assistance that may be given to people affected by the flood, but he said he doesn’t mind.
“If no assistance, I can still work,” he said.
Just days earlier, floodwaters triggered by continuous monsoon rains reached as high as his hips in their neighborhood. Yet unlike many of his neighbors, Diana refused to leave his house. He said he stayed behind to watch over what little they owned.
“I didn’t leave that night because of our belongings. When the water slowly subsided, I just slept in the house,” he said.
Although he chose to remain, he made sure his children evacuated first to the barangay gym.
“I sent my children to safety at the gym because there were many small children there. We older people can manage to escape more quickly,” he said. (Justine Paul Paraz/MindaNews)
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