COMPANIES continue to pour resources into the country’s recovery efforts from the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) amid the ongoing quarantine of Metro Manila.
Project Ugnayan
Following the launch of a multi-entity initiative called “Project Ugnayan,” companies said they each have pledged their support for the program that seeks to feed families affected by the quarantine.
NutriAsia for one said it has committed P100 million for the project which aims to reach at least 1 million households in the poor communities in greater Manila.
NutriAsia also assisted 80 hospitals and eight local government units (LGUs) by providing Locally Dalandan Blended Juice Drink to medical and military frontliners, helping boost their immune system and stay well-hydrated.
Cebuana Lhuillier Foundation Inc., through its president Jean Henri Lhuillier, meanwhile has committed P2 million.
“The quarantine has halted the livelihood of many Filipinos, and it is only proper that we make sure no one is left behind. Through Project Ugnayan, Cebuana Lhuillier assures Filipinos that we are with them in seeing this crisis through,” said Lhuillier.
The Aboitiz Group of Companies at the same time said it has also donated a similar amount to Project Ugnayan.
The group said to date, it has donated P18 million worth of personal protective equipment (PPE) and medical and sanitation equipment to various hospitals, partner government agencies and the military.
Food on the Go. Through the Aboitiz Foundation, the Aboitiz Group has turned over 35,000 items such as bread, rice, water, food packs, hygiene kits, surgical gloves, infrared thermometers, alcohol, folding beds, nitrate and latex gloves, N95 masks, nebulizers, laboratory and disposable goggles, PPE gowns, and tents to various hospitals, LGUs and government checkpoints nationwide, benefiting 70 institutions and nearly 67,000 individuals.
Pilmico Foods Corp., the food unit of Aboitiz, said it has started its 30-day distribution of food to critical sectors such as hospitals and military checkpoints in Iligan and Tarlac cities to aid frontliners.
The first batch of donations was turned over last March 21 by team members of Pilmico in hospitals and checkpoints in Tarlac City and Iligan City simultaneously.
Though Pilmico’s Kutitap Feeding Program, the company released an initial donation of 900 pieces of bread from Norlyn Bakery allocated to Tarlac Provincial Hospital and checkpoints in Aranguren, Bamban, Brgy. Lourdes, Capas, Concepcion, Cristo Rey, Magalang-Concepcion Road, and Subic-Clark-Tarlac expressway.
Coffee brand Kopiko said it has released products brought initially to six hospitals, 1,500 health workers and 25,000 military personnel — all in the first week of the community quarantine in Metro Manila.
Kopiko said it worked with Frontline Feeders PH for the immediate dispatch of Le Minerale bottled water and Kopiko Iced ready to drink coffee.
Frontline Feeders PH is comprised of a group of doctors, restaurant owners and non-government organizations (NGOs) mobilizing food distribution to different hospitals in the greater Manila area.
Kopiko also partnered with the Makati Medical Center (MakatiMed) Foundation for the donation of coffee and bottled water to the 25,000 police and military personnel of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). Donations were made to key government hospitals such as the Philippine General Hospital (PGH), one of the designated COVID-19 referral medical facilities for National Capital Region, Lung Center of the Philippines, the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) and San Lazaro Hospital; and non-profit organizations such as the MakatiMed Foundation.
The Lopez Group of Companies through unit First Philippine Holdings Corp. (FPH), has pledged P100 million as seed fund for the launch of sister company ABS-CBN Corp.’s “Pantawid ng Pagibig” project, a campaign coordinated with LGUs to provide indigents with food and other necessities in the midst of an enhanced community quarantine.
ABS-CBN’s Pantawid ng Pagibig project is raising from private companies and individuals funds which the network is using to buy food items and other essentials for repacking and distribution to individual families and households in poor communities, whose residents are affected by quarantine restrictions.
ABS-CBN coordinates with the LGUs in distributing the food packages to households. GMA Network’s “Operation Bayanihan: COVID-19” will raise funds for poverty stricken areas in Metro Manila. Grocery packs and hygiene kits will be donated to daily wage earners and their families. It has also set aside P350 million to cover the salaries, cash equivalent of rice benefits, and cash advances while operating on a skeletal work force and adapting special work arrangements.
GMA Kapuso Foundation, the broadcast firm’s socio-civic arm, also launched the “Labanan ang COVID-19” campaign for the workers at the frontlines with funds to be used for face masks, rubbing alcohol, hand sanitizers and gloves for medical workers of public government hospitals and frontliners at the border points.
Reallocating advertising funds
Tung Chingco Manufacturing Corp. which makes canned sardines Ligo, said it has realigned its entire advertising budget this year to COVID-19 initiatives, donating the fund to NGOs, charities and individual groups who are at the forefront of relief and response efforts.
“We will work hard to provide for you in times that you need us most. We pledge to deliver food and supplies… provide relief and assistance to health workers and other front liners; and equip them with Personal Protective Equipment. We will coordinate with local government units to ensure orderly distribution,” said Macky Tung, Ligo VP for advertising and promotion.
Test kits
The Gotianun-family led Filinvest Group of Companies has pledged to donate P100 million worth of COVID-19 test kits and PPE for the frontliners and hospital workers. The donations will be given to RITM.
Filinvest Development Corp.’s property subsidiary, Filinvest Land Inc., announced it has offered a 30-day payment extension for its Pabahay, Futura and Aspire customers affected by the Luzon-wide community quarantine.
Banking subsidiary EastWest Bank offered a 30-day extension program on the payment due dates of eligible customers for auto, personal, mortgage and EEL loans, and credit cards; also offering to waive fees for fund transfers to any local bank made through instaPay while fund transfers through PESONet remain free of charge.
The bank has encouraged customers to use its digital platforms.
Filinvest Lifemalls in Metro Manila which include its flagship Festival Supermall in Filinvest Alabang also provided rental waiver for qualified non-operational tenants during this period. The five supermarkets located in Filinvest City as well as medical and food delivery tenants remain open to serve the community.
FDC Utilities Inc. and its subsidiary FDC Misamis Power Corp., which operates a 405 megawatts CFB power plant in Mindanao, assured the public of continuous plant operations amidst the declaration of a nationwide state of calamity. It has also released over P32 million ER 1-94 funds to its various host beneficiaries for health programs.
Free rides, fuel discounts
Andrew Tan-led Megaworld Corp. is deploying its Citylink buses to provide free daily transport for health care personnel to and from various hospitals in Metro Manila.
In coordination with the Department of Transportation, the buses will bring healthcare workers to and from Pasig City General Hospital and Makati Medical Center, between March 23 and April 12. The daily routes will be operational from 4:30 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
In the Visayas, Megaworld is also sending assistance to the Bacolod and Iloilo LGUs after both cities were placed under community quarantine.
In Bacolod, around 1,000 liters of disinfectant alcohol will be donated to the city government and 5,000 surgical masks for the use of healthcare workers in public hospitals and barangay health centers.
Megaworld is also extending food assistance to its construction workers in its two townships, The Upper East and Northill Gateway, affected by the community quarantine declared by the city.
Megaworld said it will donate another 1,000 liters of disinfectant alcohol to the Iloilo City government for the local health workers.
Oil retailer SEAOIL said it has extended P5 gasoline and P3 diesel discount to frontliners — medical professionals and technicians, hospital and clinic staff, uniformed personnel of the AFP, Philippine National Police (PNP) and Coast Guards, and LGU officials, health workers, and quarantine enforcers, in selected stations across the country.
To avail of the discount or fuel assistance, drivers of vehicles must present an ID that verifies their profession. Properly marked vehicles such as ambulances,and those of the military and police used for COVID mobilization efforts also qualify even with the absence of a frontliner.
SEAOIL is providing free fuel assistance to partner hospitals nationwide, logistics groups including GrabBayanihan and Ube Express, the free shuttle service of Kaya Natin, among others, the company said.
Chevron, another oil retailer, said its units in the country have teamed up to donate cash and fuels amounting to almost P1,000,000 to provide safe transportation and equipment to frontliners and health workers. Chevron Philippines Inc. (Caltex) donated P500,000 to the PGH Medical Foundation Inc. to address the shortage in medical supplies and PPEs for frontliners. PGH, one of the designated exclusive COVID-19 hospitals in Metro Manila, is the Philippines’ largest public tertiary hospital.
Caltex also teamed up with JAC Liner, one of the largest bus companies in the country, to provide fuel support amounting to P250,000 to four shuttle buses servicing frontliners and health workers. The donation will cover the routes from Paranaque Integrated Terminal to Alabang and Ortigas to Shaw Boulevard until the first week of April.
Caltex Makati Credit Cooperative, run by Caltex employees, also donated P25,000 to Kaya Natin! Foundation to aid its volunteers in ferrying hospital workers from various pick up and drop off points in Metro Manila.
Caltex also partnered with Grab Philippines for its GrabBayanihan initiative with a P300 daily gas voucher provided to each Grab volunteer driver-partner. Dedicated GrabBayanihan Cars are free for 24-hour transport service of healthcare workers. Each car can transport two healthcare workers at a time, in accordance with the government’s social distancing guidelines.
Maynilad Water Co. Inc., has initially turned over 15,000 pieces of bottled water to the Philippine Navy, PNP, Metro Manila Development Authority, National Capital Region Police Office, RITM, PGH, several LGUs and to various checkpoints in the metropolis.
The company continues to mobilize other efforts to offer assistance, even as it supports its own frontline personnel at company facilities to conduct network maintenance activities to ensure sustained water service for its 9.7 million customers.
PPEs for frontliners
Global semiconductor firm SFA Semicon Philippines Corp. (SSP) meanwhile turned over the first batch of 240 units of clean room suits (popularly called bunny suits) to the Clark Development Corp. (CDC) for donation to healthcare frontliners of Pampanga in the fight against the COVID-19 health threat.
The company has committed a total of around 450 bunny suits to CDC. Half of these will be coming from its parent company SFA Semicon Co. Ltd of South Korea for turn over to CDC upon completion.
The suits are industry-grade clean room suits designed to keep off matter and dust from entering sensitive semiconductor production areas and are used by employees of SSP stationed inside the production floor.
Contingency fund
D.M. Wenceslao meanwhile said it is creating a P100-million emergency contingency fund to cover the continuance of wages, leave conversions and other means of financial support and assistance by the company.
“To commence this support and to alleviate the concern of our people, we are announcing that salaries for the next two successive periods shall be disbursed, in advance, effective immediately. For qualified retail tenants who were affected by the required closures, rent concessions will be granted as needed. We have also allocated funds and donations to address and assist the communities bordering our projects and developments,” it said.
