More PPEs, poultry products, free consultations

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THE PLDT-Smart Foundation (PSF) has donated over 50,000 face masks and other personal protective equipment (PPEs) to various hospitals in the Metro.

The Philippine General Hospital, which is one of the COVID referral hospitals in the country, received 20,000 surgical masks for their frontline health workers from PLDT and PSF.

Several hospitals and government response teams also received 50 hazmat suits each from PSF with the assistance of the Makati Medical Center Foundation. As part of this effort, ZTE Corp., recently turned over 10,000 surgical face masks to PSF to be distributed to hospitals in Metro Manila for the country’s frontline health workers.

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PSF and PLDT mobile subsidiary Smart Communications have launched a Text-to-Donate drive for COVID-19 frontliners that enables Smart, TNT, and Sun customers to contribute using their prepaid load or donations charged to their postpaid account.

Smart also recently turned over smartphones with SIMs and e-load to support Laguna’s security and medical frontliners’ communication needs.

PLDT has also provided internet connectivity to the Incident Command Center of the provincial government, as well as boosted connectivity at the Laguna Medical Center in Sta. Cruz to fast-track the processing of COVID-19 test results in the province. Fiber-powered Smart WiFi is also available at the Provincial Capitol of Laguna, and the city halls of Binan, Cabuyao and Sta Rosa.

BPI, ALI collaborates with PRC for testing facility.

The Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI), through BPI Foundation, recently collaborated with Ayala Land Inc. (ALI) to support the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) in addressing the critical health needs of Filipinos amid the COVID-19 outbreak. As part of its BAYANihan program, BPI is closely working with ALI for the construction of the second COVID-19 testing facility at the PRC Mandaluyong Headquarters. The 120-square meter facility will be able to conduct a maximum of 3,000 tests a day, and generate results within three days. To know more about BPI Foundation and its BAYANihan program, visit: http://www.bpifoundation.org.

Mitigating measures

Globe Telecom Inc. has put in place comprehensive initiatives that keep customers, and frontliners connected, safe, and informed.

These range from free WiFi, provisioning mobile phones to public hospitals, medical supplies donation, free mental and general health consultation, continuous home broadband installation, credit extension to postpaid customers, and load loan for prepaid customers, among other services.

To help frontliners like hospital staff, the armed forces, police, navy, and rescue teams, Globe turned over 1,000 preloaded mobile phones which they can use to coordinate with their respective teams and for hospitals, to communicate with patients.

Various Globe brands are also doing their part to help.

Ports respond

International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) terminals have contributed approximately P350 million to national and local government agencies, immediate communities, employees, and port stakeholders.

Also across its portfolio, ICTSI has continuously donated personal protective equipment, ventilators and test kits to private and government healthcare facilities.

The company was among the first to respond to the call of the Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation (PDRF), of which it is a member, for the business community to band together for Project Ugnayan, a feeding program for the economically vulnerable in the Philippine capital and neighboring provinces with a P100 million donation.

Outside of the ICTSI Group, Bloomberry Cultural Foundation, Inc. has, to date, donated P600 million in donations of PPEs, disinfectants, ventilators and other critical supplies to government and private hospitals in Metro Manila and nearby provinces.  The Razon group has also retrofitted the Ninoy Aquino Stadium, Rizal Stadium and the Philippine General Hospital to become COVID-19 treatment facilities.  Moreover, PhP100 million was donated for relief operations for the marginalized sector.

Poultry products

San Miguel Corp. said it is set to distribute P150 million-worth of poultry products from its inventory to poor communities mostly in areas where it operates, as part of its new coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) response, bringing the company’s total contribution to the initiative to P1.147 billion to date.

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San Miguel’s most recent effort to distribute fresh poultry products to disadvantaged communities mostly in areas surrounding its facilities, brings the company’s total food donations to about P390.7 million consisting of San Miguel products – canned goods, fresh meats, biscuits, breads, coffee, milk, and flour.

On top of its own products, the company has also distributed 1.1 million kilos of rice worth P38.4 million. San Miguel also donated over 15,000 bags of flour to local government units (LGU) for their local bakers, who make these into affordable and free breads for their communities.

The company also reported that its ongoing donations of disinfectant alcohol to hospitals, government agencies and installations, and local governments, from its repurposed liquor facilities nationwide, has reached over 1 million liters, amounting to P83.3 million.

As of April 21, free toll for medical workers had amounted to P5.1 million, with 5,191 front liners availing of the toll-free RFID stickers.

Help from Alliance Global

Alliance Global Group has donated a total of P603 million to the COVID-19 initiatives.

Alliance Group said  among the beneficiaries of its donation were Project Ugnayan (P100 million), which was used to distribute food vouchers to thousands of urban poor families in Metro Manila; P250 million worth of disinfectant alcohol distributed to various hospitals, local government units (LGUs), government agencies, and organizations throughout the country; P60 million donation of unit Megaworld Corp. to Philippine Red Cross for the purchase of four new COVID-19 test laboratories that can conduct around 10,000 tests per day; P65 million that went to various LGUs and non-government organizations for programs related to COVID-19; P125 million worth of Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) for medical frontliners and grocery bags for poor communities in Metro Manila by Resorts World Manila and its various partners; and P3 million worth of food and groceries for healthcare and security frontliners, and construction workers, as well as free transport for medical workers by Megaworld Corporation and Megaworld Foundation.

Free medical assistance

Mapúa University and its subsidiaries Malayan High School of Science, Malayan Colleges Laguna, and Malayan Colleges Mindanao are offering free medical consultation and assistance to its students and employees amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

A total of 20,400 members of the Mapúa community can avail themselves of medical consultation and assistance offered by KonsultaMD for a period of three months beginning March.

KonsultaMD is a 24/7 hotline manned by licensed Filipino doctors who provide callers with immediate basic medical care, health assessments, as well as prescriptions. The medical platform also allows patrons to have electronic laboratory (e-Laboratory) requests as well as its interpretation from its roster of doctors, and electronic prescriptions (e-Prescriptions) sent through SMS after their respective consultation.

Product and service benefits can also be availed of by Mapúa schools through KonsultaMD partner companies including: Generika, Hi-Precision Diagnostic Center, FamilyDOC, MedGrocer, Metro Dental, Lifeline, and AIDE.

Student and employees of the Mapúa schools may call 7798-8000 (for landline) or 79880 (for mobile phones).

Amway donates

Amway Philippines has pledged over P3 million in cash, products and personal protective equipment (PPEs), including its marketing budget, to benefit various groups in the frontlines during the fight against COVID-19.

Amway partnered with the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) to provide over P2 million worth of its nutrition and personal care products and P400,000 in cash to aid the organization’s ongoing initiatives against the coronavirus disease. The company will also be providing PPEs to San Lazaro Hospital in Manila, one of the government hospitals over-burdened by the pandemic.

Some of the company’s direct sellers called Amway Business Owners (ABOs) are also currently serving as frontliners in various medical facilities. Through their ABO’s, Amway has reached out regionally with donations of their eSpring Water Purifier units to health workers and hospitals in Cebu, Cagayan de Oro, and Davao.

The company has also reallocated their marketing budget for this period towards their relief efforts. On top of this, Amway launched a program to further raise funds. A portion of the sales from their line of health supplements, Nutrilite, will go to their COVID-19 relief fund wherein the final amount will be matched and doubled by Amway by May 15.

Financial assistance disbursement

The local government of Manila in partnership with Paymaya Philippines has disbursed over P13 million financial assistance to eligible senior citizen beneficiaries through their mobile wallet account.

Receiving three months’ worth of stipend covering January to March directly to their PayMaya accounts are some 9,000 senior citizens who are among the initial batch of beneficiaries equipped with citizen ID cards powered by PayMaya. Another 8,000 senior citizens have already received their stipends for the same period earlier this year.

The PayMaya-enabled citizen ID card initiative was launched in late 2019 as part of the City of Manila’s citizen benefit program for senior citizens, persons with disabilities (PWDs), and solo parents. To date, the City of Manila and PayMaya has distributed more than 17,000 citizen ID cards. Distribution of citizen ID cards  to eligible citizens will continue immediately once the enhanced community quarantine has been lifted.

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