Lolo Ricardo Montanio, aged 81, and his wife Lola Maria Aguilando Montanio, aged 80, reside in a worn-out shanty constructed from flattened tin cans, salvaged roofing, scrap lumber, and woven sacks. Their humble abode evokes a sense of "bayanihan" or collective heroism, prompting members of the local police in Brgy. Bantayan, San Roque, Northern Samar, to lend a helping hand.

This story was narrated by the Philippine National Police Directorate for Police Community Relations Head, P/Maj.Gen. Edgar Allan Okubo, to DAILY TRIBUNE on Tuesday.

Okubo said their R-PSB or Revitalized Pulis Sa Barangay Program members noticed the Montanio couple's deplorable living conditions upon seeing them, and decided to initiate the PANDAYanihan house renovation project.

R-PSB of the PNP-DPCR, according to Okubo, "believed in one of the PNP Core Values", the "Makatao”; and this made his men in Northern Samar to voluntarily contribute any amount, which is enough to immediately answer the needs of the Montanio couple.

Armed with carpentry equipment and a patrol car loaded with materials, the R-PSB Bantayan Team undertook the renovation, Okubo said.

Braving the heat of the sun, the R-PSB team continued their chores, which only take them a day of fortifying the columns and posts of the couple's house and replacing the turned woven sacks and salvaged roofings with new nipa roof and later turned over to Lolo Ricardo and Lola Maria their newly fixed minted abode.

Okubo recalled how happy Lolo Ricardo was while thanking the R-PSB team.

"Salamat san mga kapulisan didi sa Bantayan san pag upay san amun balay. Dire na kami matuturoan kun nauran kay bago man an mga pawod. Naka plywood pa an bungbong. Nalilipay ak ngan dako sobra an akon pagpasalamat kay sira nga mga dire ko kaano-ano nagbulig sa amun mag-asawa. Tinagan ako tungkod, pagkaon. yana ginbag-o an amun balay. Salamat sa R-PSB Bantayan (Thanks to the police of Bantayan in repairing our home. We will no longer be douse by rain as they also change the pawids of our roofing)," Okubo recalled, quoting Lolo Ricardo who is also suffering from a male hernia. has no means of income, and is in dismal need of food to survive.

Okubo said the PNP has been an advocate of Bayanihan with an aim to lend a hand to the most vulnerable sector. The R-PSB activity, he added, is aimed to help individuals in need of house renovation but cannot afford to do so.

"It aims to bring government services to the GIDAS (Geographically Isolated and Disadvantaged Areas) which rarely receive support from the government due to its distance and isolation," Okubo pointed out.