Cell phone charging: The big draw at SMART Libreng Tawag centers in North Luzon
The lines of people charging their cell phones were as long as, if not longer than, those wanting to make free calls at the SMART Libreng Tawag centers for victims of typhoon ‘Pepeng’ in North Luzon.
Although its operations were slightly affected, Smart Communications, Inc. (SMART) was able to maintain communication services in the hard-hit provinces of Cagayan, Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur and Isabela, when ‘Pepeng’ caused floods and landslides and disrupted power supply over the weekend.
Thus, subscribers were unable to re-charge their cell phone batteries and lined up at the Libreng Tawag Centers set up in Tuguegarao City; Laoag City; the towns of Badoc and Pasuquin in Ilocos Norte and Magsingal and Santo Domingo in Ilocos Sur; and Barangay San Pedro, Tumauini and the town of Sta. Maria in Isabela province.
Even those who availed of free calls also needed to charge their cell phones to access the contact numbers in their phone book.
Aside from free cell phone charging and calls, free Internet access was also made available via Smart Bro at the Libreng Tawag Center in Tuguegarao City.
The PLDT Group, through the PLDT-SMART Foundation, has been deploying resources to provide communication support, relief distribution and medical missions since typhoon Ondoy struck the country last September 26.
‘Ondoy’ efforts are now focused on supporting evacuees housed at the Philippine sports arena (formerly Ultra), under the auspices of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
PLDT and SMART have set up a Libreng Tawag center to provide free calls via Hellow IDD – the country’s first reloadable IDD card — and domestic calls via PLDT Landline Plus as well as cell phone charging.
SMART has also set up three laptops with Internet access provided by Smart Bro, designating one for the use of DSWD personnel for operational purposes and the rest for families that need to email and connect to loved ones abroad.
SMART has also committed to provide cooked food for the victims as well as cooking equipment to support groups that have set up soup kitchens. Plans include the deployment of a medical mission by PLDT Medical Services and the mobilization of employee-volunteers to conduct learning sessions among kids at the evacuation center via Read-to-be-Smart, the company’s employee-initiated reading program for public school children.
