The Pasay City government has signed a Memorandum of Agreement with Food Panda Philippines Inc. (FPPI) to provide an alternative income opportunity to drivers or operators of tricycles in the city who are adversely affected by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Signed on November 4 by Mayor Emi Calixto-Rubiano and FPPI Managing Director Daniel Marogy, the agreement would enable the hiring of 150 Pasay tricycle drivers as food delivery riders for at least two months under the company’s project dubbed as “PandaTODA.”

Rubiano said that applicants to be initially screened by the local government’s Public Service Employment Office (PESO) must be residents of Pasay, at least 21 years old, have a Tax Identification Number (TIN), professional driver’s license, must own or operate a tricycle which can be used as a motorcycle, among other requirements.

“On behalf of the Pasay LGU, I thank the Food Panda Philippines, Inc, a prominent food delivery service with a very wide network of restaurants as its partners, for joining hands with the local government in this initiative to provide an alternative income opportunity to our tricycle drivers whose source of income was affected by the COVID-19 health emergency,” Rubiano said.

Rubiano said that the partnership is part of the city government’s overall efforts to help city residents withstand the impact of the pandemic and recover from its adverse effects the soonest time possible.

Marogy said that their company wanted to give more livelihood opportunities for tricycle drivers displaced by the pandemic. He also shared that this initiative would also help ensure that their partner restaurants would remain available and accessible to the people even amid the still-limited means of public transport.

He underscored that PandaTODA initiative is their corporate social advocacy (CSA) project to provide livelihood opportunities to tricycle drivers affected by the community quarantine which has been implemented to curb the spread of the virus.