8 Years After ‘Yolanda’

Alang-alang, Leyte – Eight years after the deadliest disaster ravaged most parts of the Visayas, many stories of heroism have remained untold.

One of these beautiful stories of love for humanity involves a French national, Patrick Renucci, and his Filipina wife, Rachel Tan.

When they saw the photos of the tragedy where over 10,000 Filipinos perished, most of them from Samar and Leyte, the Renucci couple gave up everything they owned in Paris where they lived at the time to come to the Philippines.

They decided to establish one of the most modern rice processing facilities in Southeast Asia in a place they both had never been to – Alang-alang, Leyte.

There they assisted rice farmers by providing seeds and farm inputs on loan and farm equipment.

Then, they bought the rice produced by the farmers at a higher price.

They marketed the rice as Dalisay and Denorado rice and won 3rd place in the search for the best quality rice in the world.

Kahapon binisita ko si Patrick sa Alang-alang and asked him so many questions whose answers I will share with you in several video segments I will post starting tomorrow.

#StoryOfYolandaHeroes!