PANDEMIC RELIEF BRIEFS

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Globe supports Mandaluyong City during pandemic

Globe is supporting Mandaluyong City’s campaign against the spread of the COVID-19 by giving the local government unit funding, communication and personal protective equipment (PPEs) to its medical front liners.

The company donated P 1 million for the purchase of additional testing kits for the coronavirus and provided access to stable, reliable and fast internet with the installation of GoWiFi hotspots at the National Center for Mental Health (NCMH), Mandaluyong Public Markets 1 & 2 and at Puregold Price Club-Shaw. Globe has also zero-rated the NCMH COVID Hotline.

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Medical front liners at the NCMH also received PPEs from the company to keep them safe and protected against possible exposure to COVID-19 while working on their shifts at the medical facility. They were also given mobile phone kits preloaded with unli all net call and text for 45 days.

Lalamove delivers care to over 86,000 across various markets

Lalamove helped facilitate the delivery of over 200,000 essential items from donors, non-government organizations (NGOs) and businesses to communities in need during the pandemic.

The initiative, implemented over the last month in a number of markets in which the company operates, kicked off Deliver Care, Lalamove’s long term corporate social responsibility program.

Lalamove partnered with over 30 NGOs, government departments and businesses, offering free delivery to facilitate the transportation of care packages including over 125,000 face masks, 20,000 food packages, 52,000 bottles of hand sanitiser and 21,000 pieces of personal protective equipment such as gloves and face shields. In total, the items reached more than 86,000 beneficiaries, namely the underprivileged, disabled youths, schools and hospitals.

The activities were carried out in Hong Kong, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Taipei, Manila, Cebu, Bangkok, Jakarta, Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi.

Aboitiz Foundation, one of the NGOs that partnered with Lalamove, provided much needed donations of medical supplies to frontline medical workers at hospitals around Metro Manila.

CitySavings supports DepEd’s Learning Continuity Plan

City Savings Bank (CitySavings) has pledged its support to the government’s Basic Education – Learning Continuity Plan (BE-LCP of the Department of Education. DepEd). DepEd recently called for support from stakeholders for the joint Brigada Eskwela (BE) and Oplan Balik Eskwela (OBE) initiatives from June 1 to August 29. The partnership activities with stakeholders include disinfection of schools, mobilization of essential items, psychological first aid sessions/psycho-social interventions, DepEd’s learning continuity plan orientation activities with partners and the PTA, distance learning, gulayan sa paaralan/tahanan, other school-based initiatives, and partnership appreciation.

CitySavings initially donated safety and sanitation essentials such as alcohol, sanitizers, disinfectants, face masks, gloves, and thermal scanners which will benefit regional and division offices, and selected schools nationwide. The bank is also currently coordinating with DepEd to address other needs in preparation for the opening of classes on August 24.

Maynilad, DLSMC to build P15M Covid-lab

A P15-million facility featuring the Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) procedure, the gold standard testing method to detect the Covid-19 virus, will soon rise at the Quezon City grounds of the De Los Santos Medical Center (DLSMC).

Maynilad Water Services Inc. recently signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with the multi-specialty medical center to fund the construction of the facility.

The MOA, with Deed of Donation, was signed by Maynilad president and chief executive officer (CEO) Ramoncito Fernandez and DLSMC president and CEO Raul Pagdanganan.

The Maynilad-DLSMC testing center will boost the capacity of the 30 existing RT-PCR laboratories and five GeneXpert facilities licensed to operate by the Department of Health (DOH).

Under the MOA, Maynilad will donate P15 million for the construction of the RT-PCR testing laboratory. DLSMC will build and operate the facility within its hospital complex in Quezon City.

The Maynilad-DLSMC RT-PCR testing center is estimated to be completed by November this year.

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More Kadiwa stores open at Petron gas stations

San Miguel Corp. (SMC) and the Department of Agriculture (DA) have expanded the network of “Kadiwa ni Ani at Kita” rolling farmers’ stores at Petron gas stations.

SMC president and chief operating officer Ramon S. Ang said the partnership with the DA, covering the Kadiwa stores as well as the purchase of major raw materials for food production, has benefited a lot of farmers suffering from loss of critical markets and income following the necessary imposition of enhanced community quarantine.

The new Kadiwa stores are located at the following Petron gas stations: Bel-Aire Gil Puyat Cor. Makati Ave; EDSA — Sierra Madre; Dasmarinas, EDSA; Katipunan Ave. (La Vista), QC; Shaw Blvd corner Wack Wack; C5-Diego Silang, Taguig; EDSA corner Main Ave. Cubao; 188 E. Rodriguez Jr. QC; Marcos Highway, Pasig; Connecticut, San Juan; Ninoy Aquino Ave. Sucat, Paranaque; Doña Soledad Ave. Better Living, Paranaque; and Dr. A Santos Ave., Sucat Rd., Paranaque.

The Kadiwa stores have complemented SMC’s efforts to boost food accessibility throughout the quarantine. It made fresh poultry, meats, and ready-to-eat products more easily accessible to consumers through the deployment of reefer vans-cum-rolling stores also at Petron gas stations. It also rolled out an online ordering platform, www.order.sanmiguelfoods.com, where orders are fulfilled by, and picked up at, nearby Petron Treats outlets.

Bloomberry Foundation ties up with TDF for added testing capacity

The Bloomberry Cultural Foundation Inc (BCFI) and the Ayala Group’s healthcare unit, Ayala Healthcare Holdings, Inc. (AC Health), have partnered with the Tropical Disease Foundation (TDF) to add to the country’s COVID-19 testing capacity.

With the TDF now accredited by the Department of Health and Research Institute for Tropical Medicine, the partnership effectively adds to the country’s ability  to conduct confirmatory RT-PCR tests while contributing to the country’s health care system overall. .

BCFI donated to the TDF lab RT-PCR machines and equipment such as PCR and RNA extraction kits, biological safety cabinets, and a laboratory-grade refrigerator, among others.

The partnership has been the latest initiative of BCFI to assist in government and private efforts to fight COVID-19.

This is also BCFI’s second partnership with the Ayala Group, the first being the retrofitting of a unit at the Philippine General Hospital as a treatment facility.

New RT-PCR machines from Ayala Foundation to facilitate testing at SPMC Davao

“The people of Davao City and the entire Mindanao are truly grateful for this generous assistance from Ayala Foundation. Know that this donation will help us with our offense. Noon, we were scrambling to defend our areas, but now we are on the offensive against COVID-19 and these donations will greatly help us in our work,” says Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio. (Handout photo)

Ayala Foundation’s donation of automated RNA Extraction machine and 2 RT-PCR machines and their accessories to SPMC Davao will help boost their Covid19 testing capacity by a maximum of 1,000 tests per day.

The donation is an expression of the Ayala group’s continuing commitment to helping contain the COVID-19 pandemic, as it participates in Task Force T3 (Test, Trace, and Treat) convened by the Inter-Agency Task Force—National Task Force (IATF-NTF) and the Department of Health (DOH).

The SPMC donation is one of other similar initiatives that seek to capacitate existing testing facilities and build testing laboratories in different parts of the country. Ayala, through Ayala Land and AC Health, are constructing testing labs in Bulacan, Batangas, Laguna, and Iloilo.

Together, the Ayala group’s various contributions to Project T3 will boost the country’s daily testing capacity by 5,500. At present, the country conducts about 34,000 tests daily.

The Ayala group has also been working closely with the SPMC in the past few years. In 2018, Ayala donated laser eye equipment for the treatment of cancer patients at the SPMC Cancer Institute. Last December, the Ayala group officially turned over the newly refurbished House of Hope Halfway House, where pediatric patients of the SPMC Cancer Institute can stay with their families or caregivers, while they are undergoing treatment.

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