By Raymund Antonio
Almost a month into the Luzon-wide lockdown, cash donations from private donors are inching closer to the P50 million level, according to the Office of the Vice President on Wednesday.
Vice President Leni Robredo
(OVP / MANILA BULLETIN)
“As of 6 p.m, April 7 (Tuesday), the proceeds have reached more than P48.9 million from OVP's combined funds and the enforced assistance in the donation drive of our Kaya Movement,” Vice President Leni Robredo said in a Facebook post.
The OVP partnered with Kaya Natin! Movement to raise funds for the benefit of medical frontliners in need of personal protective equipment (PPE) in the fight against coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
The amount is enough to provide 111,480 PPE sets for 7,432 frontliners. Of this amount, P5.9 million came from the 2020 budget of Robredo’s office.
They launched the fund drive when a lot of people asked for help during the COVID-19 crisis, especially those working in hospitals.
Health workers across the country have been asking for additional protective gear to keep them safe because of the risk that comes with their jobs.
Robredo said that 55,950 PPE sets have been delivered to 234 hospitals and communities nationwide.
The latest recipients were the hospitals in Cebu namely Carcar Provincial Hospital, Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center, Cebu Doctors University Hospital, and Talisay District Hospital.
Boxes of protective gear have also been given to Chong Hua Hospital and Southwestern University Medical Center, both in Cebu City, and Angel Salazar Memorial General Hospital in San Jose de Buenavista, Antique.
The others were Gandara District Hospital and Basey District Hospital in Samar, and Salvacion Oppus Yñiguez Memorial Provincial Hospital in Maasin City, Southern Leyte.
The vice president earlier told CNN Philippines that she was not “competing” with government efforts, but she just wanted to “fill in the gaps” in response to COVID-19.
“This is not a time for us to keep score. This is not a time for us to think that this is a competition. This is a time where not just government officials, but government and the private sector should all work together,” she said.
“We step in every time we see a need. So I think they should not look at it, ‘I’m faster,’ ‘I have contributed more’. The private sector should step in wherever government needs,” Robredo added.