The Mayor of Cainta Kit Nieto said Wednesday he would continue to sell his shoe collection to raise COVID-19 funds for his town despite a generous donor already gave P100,000 cash.
“Masama daw pangitain. Salamat po pero nakapagbitiw na kasi ako ng salita. Hanggang sa huling araw ng quarantine, 3 pares isang araw,” he said in a Facebook post.
(They said it’s a bad omen. Thank you, but I already said it. Until the end of the quarantine, three pairs per day.)
“Siguro naman, ‘yung intensyon na lang na gamitin ito sa inaakala kong mabuti ang magiging dahilan kung bakit walang pwedeng masama na magbunga sa sinserong hangarin.”
The mayor said he would use the P100,000 donation from Greenland to buy milk for children.
“Salamat po ulit. Ibibili ko ‘yung perang pinadala mo ng mga gatas ng bata dahil paubos na ang supply sa opisina at hindi maubos ang mga humihingi,” he said.
(Thank you again. I will use the money you sent to buy milk for the children because our stock of supply is running low.)
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Nieto said he decided to have his sneaker collection be auctioned to add funds since the government’s social welfare development allotted cash aid will only cover 38,000 out of some 370,000 residents of Cainta.
“The local government has to do something to bridge this gap at mabuhay sila para sa [for them to survive the] next chapter after the quarantine and that’s where we come in,” he told radio DZMM.
He said he should first feel the personal sacrifice before he looks for other resources elsewhere. “I also have to feel the pinch, and I started with something that is close to me, which is my sneaker collection,” the mayor said.
The Cainta Mayor said it took him three days to convince himself to part with his collection.
Carlo Ople, vice president of PLDT, bought a pair of Travis Scott Jordan 1 Low, for P70,000 and re-auctioned it for P60,000. Ople would donate the P60,000 to the Cainta government, Nieto added.