By Raymund Antonio
Vice President Leni Robredo expects the distribution of more personal protective equipment (PPE) sets for medical frontliners after the Holy Week.
(OVP / MANILA BULLETIN)
This came after female sewers have come together to make protective suits designed by fashion designers as PPE supply has run short due to the surge in COVID-19 patients.
The mothers from Smokey Mountain and Payatas in Manila have volunteered to help frontliners by sewing protective suit using the fabrics donated to Robredo’s office and its private partner.
“So ngayon mapapabilis iyong production rather than doon sa traditional na naghihintay lang tayo sa dumadating,” Robredo said in interview with CNN Philippines.
(So now the production will be faster rather than the traditional when we were just waiting for the supply to arrive.)
“Hopefully in the coming week, after the Holy Week, it will be faster because the first set of locally manufactured PPEs was already given to us,” she added.
In a Facebook post, Robredo shared photos of the local sewers, whom she thanked for pitching in to help the health workers and frontliners.
Her personal Facebook page also showed the locally sewn protective suits from Bulacan and her hometown of Naga City.
“Real bayanihan spirit in action,” the opposition leader said.
The Office of the Vice President has turned to local fashion designers and sewers to produce PPEs amid the rising global demand due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
The approved design pattern was made by Joey Socorro using Tafetta silver back lining, a water repellant fabric.
Health workers across the country have been asking for additional protective gear to protect them from the deadly virus while performing their tasks of caring for infected patients.
To date, the OVP and Kaya Natin! Movement have raised P47.59 million in public donations for the purchase of 108,554 PPE sets, with almost half of them already distributed to 215 hospitals nationwide.