As temperatures climbed toward 40°C, the University of San Agustin’s Social Advocacy and Community Engagement Office (SACEO) rallied more than twenty offices to bring water and relief to the city’s tireless public utility drivers.
Volunteers from the University of San Agustin gathered at the Social Advocacy and Community Engagement Office arms loaded with bottled water and towels, ready to fan out across the city’s streets — answering an urgent call to bring hydration and comfort to jeepney drivers braving a punishing 40°C heat index. The initiative, aptly named Hydrate Iloilo, was SACEO’s direct response to a mounting public health concern, that the men and women who keep Iloilo moving daily do so under elements that few office-bound workers ever have to endure.
“Our jeepney drivers are the unsung heroes of this city’s daily rhythm,” one participating staff member noted. “They sit in open vehicles under direct sunlight for hours, often without access to clean drinking water or even shade. The least we can do is show up for them.”
The gesture carries historical weight for the University. SACEO’s Hydrate Iloilo is not an entirely new undertaking, it had its inaugural run during the Dinagyang Festival, when volunteers served devotees and parade-goers along the fluvial procession. That first effort, warmly received by the community, laid the groundwork for this expanded outreach. This time, however, the beneficiaries are the men and women behind the wheel and those working in the grounds of the city, who are often among the most heat-exposed workers in any Filipino city.
The response from within the University was remarkable in its breadth. More than twenty offices answered the call, spanning the full spectrum of the institution’s academic and administrative landscape — from the College of Nursing, Nutrition and Dietetics to the Purchasing Office; from the Office of the President to the SAWO Augustinian Yearbook Office. The College of Pharmacy and Medical Technology, the Center for Strategic Management and Development, the International Relations Office, and the Health Services Unit were among the many that mobilized their personnel for the activity from packing the goods days before to giving it out in the streets.
That diversity of participation speaks to something larger than a one-morning outreach event. It reflects a university culture that views civic responsibility not as the burden of any single department, but as a shared Augustinian value which is rooted in the tradition of caritas, or charity, that defines the order from which the institution draws its name and spirit.
For the drivers and workers who received the water and towels on this hot April morning, the gesture was a reminder that their labor is seen, valued, and worthy of care — not only by the passengers who ride their jeepneys each day, but by an institution that chose to step off campus and into the streets.
PARTICIPATING OFFICES
College of Pharmacy and Medical Technology, Research and Publication Services, Guidance Services and Testing Center, VP for Academic Affairs Office, College of Commerce, College of Liberal Arts, Sciences and Education, Office of the President, Institutional Legal Counsel, College of Technology, BED – Senior High School, Office of the Registrar, College of Nursing and Nutrition and Dietetics, Admission, Scholarship and Placement, The Augustinian Yearbook Office, Chemistry Laboratory, Purchasing Office, Health Services Unit, Center for Strategic Management and Development, Student Affairs and Welfare Office, International Relations Office, Research and Innovations Office, and Archives and Museum
#SDG 3 Good Health and Well-Being
#SDG 11 Sustainable Cities and Communities
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