A four-person team from the Office of the Vice President (OVP) left on Thursday for Cebu City to augment government efforts in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.
Vice President Leni Robredo said her office would start its COVID-19 response operations, dubbed as Bayanihan Sugbuanon, in Cebu City this week.
“Our team for BayanihanSugbuanon leaves for Cebu today, where they will lead the OVP COVID-19 response operations. Sending them off with lots of prayers and a sense of pride over our young, dynamic team—parating handa, basta para sa bayan,” she said in a tweet.
“We'd also like to thank everyone who is volunteering for our response operations in Cebu! Details on the initiatives will be out soon, once our team has assessed the most urgent needs in the area,” Robredo added.
She made the call for volunteers to help in the city’s response against the public health crisis following the spike of COVID-19 cases there.
The strictest enhanced community quarantine is extended until July 15 in Cebu City, the new hotspot for the coronavirus infections.
Cebu City has so far recorded 5,494 COVID-19 cases with 169 deaths and 2,723 recoveries.
Jill Campo-Javiniar, head of Robredo’s flagship Angat Buhay program, said the OVP will adopt the initiatives it has implemented in Metro Manila to help Cebuanos in need amid the pandemic.
“They (OVP team) will first assess and meet with our volunteers and finalize plans. But we are happy that so many responded to our call for help,” she told Manila Bulletin.
Robredo’s office and its private partners have distributed personal protective equipment to hospitals and offer free shuttle service and dormitories for health workers and other frontliners.
Just recently, they also launched the Oasis Project that provides temporary shelters for medical frontliners and app-based delivery service for small market vendors and tricycle drivers.
OVP’s other assistance include free haircut service and locally produced PPEs, free bus rides for locally stranded individuals, extraction and testing kits, among others.Attachments area