More than 200 COVID-19 patients and almost 200 health workers in isolation facilities in Tacloban City have received gift packs in celebration of former Senator Ferdinand "Bongbong” Marcos' 63rd birthday.

House Majority Leader and Leyte 1st District Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez and Tingog party-list Rep Yedda Marie K. Romualdez said the gift-giving to 206 coronavirus disease patients and 191 medical frontliners was held on Sunday, Sept. 13.

“In celebration of Bongbong’s birthday, we are reminded to give back to the people, especially the medical frontliners and COVID-19 patients who were victimized by this pandemic. They continue to face the brunt of the impact of the coronavirus and this gift giving is a simple message that as their representatives, we support them, and we are here for them,” the Romualdezes said.

“We commit to aid our kababayans in ways that we can. The times may be uncertain and difficult but our spirit of service to the people shall persist,” they added.

The recipients of the Romualdez couple’s gift-giving initiative included COVID-19 patients staying in Tacloban at Budget Hotel, Ace Francis Hotel, GoHOTEL, Salvacion, and UNDP Cabalawan; and medical frontliners at Madison Park Hotel, Leyte Park Hotel in Tacloban, and the Schistomiasis Hospital in Palo, Leyte.

Food and basic anti-pandemic essentials were given to the patients and health workers under the initiative, which is in partnership with Tacloban City Mayor Alfred Romualdez.

The Romualdezes, in partnership with the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), earlier this month turned over 56 air-conditioned rooms, mostly made of converted shipping containers, as temporary mobile facilities for their medical frontliners in Eastern Visayas Regional Medical Center (EVRMC) and Schistosomiasis Hospital in Palo, Leyte.

Last July, around 160 medical frontliners of EVRMC were given the chance to stay at the Leyte Park Hotel and Resort and Madison Park Hotel in Tacloban City for free for three months through the Romualdezes’ joint initiative with the Office of the Civil Defense (OCD) as part of the government’s efforts to protect healthcare workers and reboot the economy.