RESILIENCE initiatives from companies and their employees are pushing forward to force back the impact of the pandemic with more time, money and effort being poured to support the fight. Hospitals across the nation are also getting help from companies distributing personal protective gear and medical supplies.
Ugnayan hits P1.6B
Project Ugnayan, a fundraising initiative led by top business groups in cooperation with the Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation (PDRF) and Caritas Manila, said it has collected a total of P1.62 billion in commitments.
Guillermo Luz, Project Ugnayan spokesman and chief resilience officer of PDRF, said the amount is enough for the project to reach out to its target of 1 million to 1.5 million families.
The initiative aims to fund the distribution of grocery vouchers to urban poor residents in the Metro Manila .
Project Ugnayan initially engaged Caritas Manila’s Project Damayan and ABS CBN’s Pantawid ng Pag-ibig program for the door to door distribution of grocery vouchers “redeemable for food items from accessible groceries and supermarkets.”
Luz said the last 10 days saw Project Ugnayan, through Caritas Manila, distribute grocery vouchers to 218,119 families in economically-vulnerable communities as of end-March, reaching 1,090,595 individual residents.
“We hope to reach over 300,000 families in the coming days,” Luz said.
Project Ugnayan meanwhile has tapped the Asian Development Bank and the government to expand its distribution reach.
Among the supporters of Project Ugnayan are Aboitiz Group, ABSCBN/First Gen, Alliance Global Group & Megaworld, Ayala Corp. & Zobel Family, AY Foundation & RCBC, Bench/Suyen Corp, Century Pacific, Concepcion Industrial, DMCI Group of Companies, Gokongwei Group of Companies/Robinsons Retail Holdings, ICTSI, Jollibee, Leonio Group, Mercury Drug Corp., Metrobank, Nutri-Asia, Oishi/Liwayway Marketing Group, PLDT/Metro Pacific Investments Corp., Puregold, Ramon S. Ang & Family, SM/BDO, Sunlife of Canada, Unilab, AlphaLand, Cebuana Lhullier, Chito Madrigal Foundation, Coca Cola, Glorious Commercial Exports, Inc., FEU, First Life Financial Company, Focus Global, One Meralco Foundation, Penshoppe, PepsiCo/PepsiCo Foundation, Shang Properties, Inc., and TAO Corp.
Free food for frontlines
Universal Robina Corp., (URC) meanwhile said its unit URC Sugar and Renewables Division (URC SURE) is donating relief goods as well as sanitation and hygiene products to various checkpoints and Disaster Relief and Rescue Management offices in Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental, Batangas Province, Panay island and Tuguegarao City.
URC, along with the Gokongwei Brothers Foundation (GBF), has also donated cases of Great Taste Coffee, Nissin Noodles, Vitasoy Milk, Magic Crackers and other food products to local government units, reaching policemen, soldiers and barangay officials manning checkpoints, in some cities in Metro Manila as well as Tarlac, Laguna, Batangas and Pampanga.
URC and GBF have also been distributed to several hospitals and checkpoints that include the Philippine Lung Center, East Avenue Hospital, the Philippine Heart Center, Research Institute for Tropical Medicine, and the Department of Health’s Regional Epidemiology Surveillance Units in the National Capital Region and Region 4A.
Century Pacific Food Inc. recently committed to provide one million food packs to be distributed nationwide, targeting the communities that are severely impacted.
The company said it has enough supply to service the food needs of communities in the on-going quarantine.
Oscar Pobre, Century Pacific chief finance officer, said the company is able to “maintain a smooth flow of goods and operate with enough capacity, despite the use of a skeleton workforce.”
“We will continue working closely with the government to ensure unhampered operations of our company and our supply chain partners. We also remain in close touch with partner local government units for the supply and donation of various food products. Finally, the health, safety, and financial protection of our employees remain paramount and we continue to provide them with care and financial aid,” he said.
Mobile banking during the quarantine
BDO Unibank Inc. said customers can opt to transact with the bank through its online and mobile banking services, keeping their banking activity unhampered.
Using digital channels, clients can pay bills, send money, load up their prepaid mobile phones, and check account balances, the bank said.
“To sign up for online banking, visit www.bdo.com.ph, click on “Online Banking Login,” then “Enroll Now!” on the login box. After filling out the forms, expect an ATM activation code. Use this code to confirm enrollment at the nearest BDO ATM,” it said.
“Clients with an activated online account can enjoy the ease and convenience of banking using their mobile devices. They can download the BDO Mobile App and access its features using their registered username and password. A One-Time PIN (OTP) will be sent via SMS to add their device for further security,” the bank said.
Teleconsultation
The Makati Medical Center (MMC) in partnership with PayMaya Philippines has piloted a “teleconsultation” service that allows doctors to provide healthcare advice and consultation over the mobile and conferencing app.
MMC’s “teleconsultation” service is currently being piloted by a number of doctors of the hospital, allowing them to provide necessary healthcare advice and consultations even from a location outside of their clinic in MMC.
Through technology-aided video conferencing apps such as Zoom, doctors and patients can communicate over long distances for quick medical consultations.
Patients will receive a text message from their doctor containing payment details on consultation fee via their PayMaya account. Each doctor in this service will have his/her own PayMaya QR code which they can ask patients to scan using the PayMaya app to pay the teleconsultation fee.
Patients who want to reach their MMC doctor for medical consultation from the comfort of their home may contact their doctor at 8888-8999 to check if their doctor provides remote consultation through teleconferencing.
Chatbot for Globe employees
Globe Telecom has created a chatbot that automatically checks on the health status of each of its over 8,000 employees everyday.
Called Digital Usher for Disasters and Emergencies or DUDE, the chatbot makes a friendly visit in the morning to inquire if the employee is well or not.
Employees are asked to choose between the two options provided – “I’m good” and “Not so well.” Those not feeling well may key in their symptoms and DUDE will forward the information to the appropriate support team. There is also a COVID-19 Helpdesk and hotline to assist the employees.
DUDE provides accurate information about COVID-19 through links to official health news sources such as the World Health Organization, Department of Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; policies, advisories, COVID-19 FAQs, and safety tips. It can also capture the frontliners’ needs such as personal protective gear, accommodation, and transportation and swiftly inform the company’s COVID-19 Response team members who are on standby.
P190M from MPIC
Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) said it has allocated over P190 million in relief assistance as part of effort to fight the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
The amount comes in millions of pesos worth of virus specimen collection kits, personal protective equipment (PPEs), medicine, relief goods (namely food and alcohol), face masks, water supplies, as well as transportation services for medical frontliners, the company said.
MPIC companies such as Metro Pacific Tollways Corp., (MPTC), Manila Electric Co., (MERALCO), Maynilad Water Services, Light Rail Manila Corp., (LRMC), Global Business Power (GBP) and the MPIC Hospital group, as well as Metro Pacific Investments Foundation (MPIF) 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 company also said that its group has 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 coronavirus crisis period.
“The companies 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,” it said.
“MPIC employees were also given work from home (WFH) allowance for electricity and internet needs, vitamins, with managers and executives provided a cash equivalent to replace fleet card liters,” it added.
“Utilities with round-the-clock services such as Meralco and Maynilad received medical assistance, PPE and hygiene kits for lockdown and mission critical operations, including skeletal workforces, shuttle bus services, meal allowances and roving company doctors on call, among others,” it also said.
Metro Pacific said the group also donated over P3 million worth of virus specimen collection tubes, PPEs, and vitamins to the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM), the Philippine Genome Center, the Lung Center of the Philippines, as well as the hospitals within the group.
MPTC coordinated with some 220 barangays along the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX), Subic, Clark, Tarlac Expressway (SCTEX) and the Manila-Cavite Expressway (Cavitex) network to donate P4.5M worth of relief goods. One Meralco Foundation meanwhile distributed face masks to the Rizal and Philippine heart centers, as well as the Department of Transportation (DOTr).
“Maynilad, the MPIC-led utility concessionaire for Metro Manila’s west zone, provided water to hundreds of checkpoints of the Philippine National Police (PNP), Makati Medical Center, Rizal Medical, San Juan Medical, Cardinal Santos, V. Luna and Pasig Gen hospitals, Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA), Philippine Navy, UP-PGH and the Malabon, Parañaque, and Putatan LGUs,” MPIC said.
“LRMC provided free alcohol and thermometer units to all LRT-1 merchants and commuters, disinfection and sanitation services for all trains and public transport vehicles, as well as hygiene supplies,” it added.
One Meralco Foundation, Maynilad, and LRMC provided transportation assistance for health workers, donating eJeeps, vans and coasters to serve as free shuttle services. GBP has also donated half a million pesos for transportation assistance.
GBP’s Iloilo plant site also donated P300,000 to their LGU for alcohol, face masks, canned goods, noodles, and other necessities.
Logistics support
UPS said that through the UPS Foundation it has extended $6 million in grants, logistics and transportation, and collaboration with more than a dozen relief agencies deploying COVID-19 initiatives.
This effort spans local, national and global efforts bringing urgent medical supplies, food and housing support, and financial assistance to aid recovery efforts, UPS said.
The relief support includes collaboration with more than a dozen organizations and the provision of in-kind transportation, supply chain consultation, and cash contributions to expedite the distribution of personal protective equipment for healthcare workers and other life-sustaining activities for impacted individuals and communities.
P170M worth of PPEs, medical supplies to hospitals
SM Foundation recently began distributing over P170 million worth of PPEs and medical supplies to over 50 hospitals nationwide to be of service in the fight against COVID -19. These include ICU-grade ventilators; test kits including the local Manila Healthtek kits developed by the UP-NIH team, and FDA-approved PCR kits from Korea; and personal protective equipment for healthcare workers. The Philippine General Hospital, the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM), the Lung Center of the Philippines were among the recipients. Photo shows Medical City Manila medical frontliners in their new PPE outfits.
