MANILA, Philippines — Around 400 nursing mothers have joined  together on Thursday in Taguig City in order to donate breast milk for babies affected by the Taal Volcano eruption.

Senator Pia Cayetano, in partnership with the Human Milk Bank of Taguig City, conducted a day-long breast milk letting event on January 23 at the Lakeshore Tent in Lower Bicutan, Taguig.

The event dubbed, “Breast Milk Ko, Alay Ko,” was made open to all volunteer breastfeeding mothers, including residents and non-residents of the city.

The donated milk will be stored and processed by the Taguig City Human Milk Bank, and delivered to different evacuation centers in the province of Batangas.

“The essence of this is mothers helping other mothers,” Cayetano said.

The milk letting activity is in response to the appeal of the Batangas provincial government for breast milk donations for families who have been displaced by Taal’s eruption.

It also follows the Department of Health (DOH) advisory encouraging breast milk donations for areas affected by the disaster. “Nobody will dispute that breast milk is best for babies. But what do we do when, for some reason, a mother cannot provide that for her baby? There are moms who breastfeed but during a state of stress, their milk supply gets affected. That’s why we are trying to help out to those in need,” Cayetano said. (STACY  ANG/IAMIGO/Currentph.com)