San Miguel setting up testing booths
San Miguel Corp. said it has committed to put up testing booths in areas with high-density of COVID-19 cases, as well as donate test kits, to enable access to free testing in poor communities.
The company said it has partnered with 17 local government units in Metro Manila for the initiative, so that local government units can easily ask people to get tested.
Ramon Ang, San Miguel president, said the company’s effort will complement the national government’s expanded testing efforts, which is focused on building “mega swabbing centers” in key, major commercial areas to test, initially, returning overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).
No let up. San Miguel reported that its continuing donations to the country’s efforts to combat the Covid-19 pandemic has reached P13.08 billion. The company said it is committed to help government, medical front liners and vulnerable communities and initiate new projects to further support the battle against the virus.
“This is the best way we can help our local governments ramp up or expand their testing capacity–in particular, for poorer barangays and communities, even as national government takes care of building our mega swabbing centers, which for now will be focused on our returning OFWs,” said Ang.
“Our aim is to help flatten the curve in our less fortunate barangays,” he added.
Ang said San Miguel’s donation “would help expand testing capacity, particularly as the government considers the lifting of the enhanced community quarantine in some parts of Luzon.”
San Miguel at the same time is donating three more sets of testing equipment, consisting of RT-PCR (reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction) machines and automated RNA (ribonucleic acid) extraction machines, to specific health facilities and institutions in Metro Manila, including the National Center for Mental Health in its home city of Mandaluyong.
“There are many people and sectors in need of help today. We will make sure they are not overlooked or neglected,” Ang said.
Good Guys Market serving SMDC communities
SM Development Corp. (SMDC) started rolling out its weekly community grocery initiative, The Good Guys Market, to give SMDC communities access to fresh produce.
With the initiative, SMDC residents can purchase affordable fresh produce while helping and supporting local farmers in partnership with SM Foundation’s Kabalikat sa Kabuhayan (KSK) program.
SMDC communities in Sea, Shell, and Shore Residences in the MOA complex can now safely and conveniently order fresh vegetables and fruits . Their orders will be delivered every Sunday straight to their doorsteps, with no delivery charges.
Proactive measures are being taken to ensure that social distancing and sanitation are observed in every step of the process, all while helping small farmers continue to thrive amid this pandemic.
“Farmers are frontliners, too; they provide food security. Through their hard work and dedication, our communities continue to have access to fresh and nutritious produce even during this challenging time,” said Cristina Angeles, SM Foundation’s assistant vice president for livelihood and outreach.
SM Foundation’s KSK on Sustainable Agriculture Program, which was championed in 2006 by SM Group founder, Henry Sy, Sr., is a holistic training program designed to prepare farmer-participants to become productive and effective entrepreneurs. Through this initiative, hundreds of farmers from Benguet and Pampanga who have been displaced by the COVID-19 outbreak and the subsequent declaration of an ECQ are provided with a means to continue selling and earning from their produce.
This initiative will be replicated in other SMDC communities in the coming weeks.
FECP: More than just a car club
Members of the Ford Everest Club Philippines (FECP) were quick to volunteer and lend their hand to frontliners fighting the COVID-19 pandemic when the lockdown was declared mid-March.
Founded by mechanical engineer Jay Cruz, FECP started a campaign to raise funds to provide doctors with aerosol boxes designed to protect them during intubation procedures with COVID-19 patients.
Three days after the call for donations on Facebook, they started the deliveries of the aerosol boxes to hospitals with the help of members who volunteered to transport goods across the country using their Ford Everest SUVs.
FECP collected almost P600,000 worth of donations from members and their families that were used to procure 320 aerosol acrylic boxes, 60 boxes of surgical masks and N-95 masks, 1,000 face-shields, and 400 PPE gowns. These were then personally distributed by the leaders of the club to 200 hospitals across the country, prioritizing COVID-19 centers and government facilities.
The club successfully rounded up a team of volunteer members to deliver the boxes. Simultaneously, agencies such as the Philippine Air Force, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority, and the Philippine National Police also extended their hand in the distribution of the medical supplies across hospitals and facilities in Luzon.
FECP is now holding free online medical consultations for its bona fide members in partnership with members in the medical field, serving 100 patients to date. They are also planning to start their “OPLAN: hatid” campaign geared towards providing free transportation to frontliners.
MPIC scales up cooperation
The Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC)together with the foundations and other companies of the MVP Group such as Roxas Holdings, MetroPac Movers, PLDT and Smart Communications have been scaling up its cooperation with key government hospitals that are focused on caring for COVID- 19 patients.
These hospitals include the Philippine General Hospital, Research Institute for Tropical Medicine, Philippine Genome Center, and Lung Center of the Philippines.
Aid provided by the group have come in the form of personal protective equipment,alcohol and other disinfectants, face masks, virus specimen collection kits, transportation services, water supply and communications support like hotlines, mobile phones, WiFi and other digital solutions.
The MVP group, in partnership with the Department of Public Works and Highways and Iglesia ni Kristo, also completed the conversion of the Philippine Arena in Bulacan into a 300-bed “mega treatment facility” for COVIDpatients.
MPIC companies such as Metro Pacific Tollways Corp., Manila Electric Co.,Maynilad Water Services, Light Rail Manila Corp., Global Business Power and the MPIC Hospital group, as well as Metro Pacific Investments Foundation and One Meralco Foundation, have mobilized and distributed just under P200 million worth of support to various municipalities, government agencies and medical institutions all over the country.
The conglomerate also mobilized a nationwide internal program to take care of its thousands of employees involved in infrastructure projects all over the country, through the continuance of salaries and benefits during the corona virus crisis period.
The companies has made provisions for hygiene supplies (i.e. masks, health kits and vitamins), and ensured advance payment of mid-year bonuses while on lockdown from March 15 to April 12.
