Sunday, September 07, 2008 Another shipment of medical aid to arrive soon By Jovi T. De Leon
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO -- The second 40-foot container van loaded with medical equipment and supplies for various district hospitals in the province is already in the warehouse of a shipping company and will soon be delivered to the provincial Capitol here.
Rodolfo Mallari, the lone authorized representative and volunteer of US-based World Medical Relief Inc. (WMRI) in the region, bared this Saturday afternoon.
Mallari, to whom the shipments are consigned, said he has been notified a few days ago by Theresa Besas of GTLI Logistics (Philippines) of the arrival of the container van.
Mallari has long been a volunteer of WMRI and has initiated most of the group's outreach and donation programs in the province to as far as rural areas in Nueva Ecija and the north. He and wife Janet have been in this endeavor since the past administrations in the province.
Mallari, who is also an active member of the Kapampangan Development Foundation, said the shipment's release must immediately be facilitated by Capitol officials to avoid penalties and other surcharges that may arise from prolonged storage.
He said he has forwarded all documents to the Capitol to effect the release of the donation.
The first of the two container vans arrived here on August 22 and the estimated P43 million worth of valuable medical equipment and supplies was distributed to beneficiary hospitals the following day.
The shipment was allocated for the district hospitals of San Luis, Romana, Porac and Balitucan; the Diosdado P. Macapagal Memorial Hospital in Guagua; and the Ricardo Rodriguez Memorial Hospital in San Fernando.
Mallari added that the second batch of the donation is bigger as it includes an ambulance requested by Candaba Mayor Jerry Pelayo for the town's community hospital.
He said "it was important to act on the claim and release of the shipment to avoid the substantial penalties that may be imposed on the multimillion-peso donation and avoid the delay that occurred with the first shipment."
Complications regarding the service and shipment fees of the first shipment arose when it was not claimed on time by Capitol officials. "In fairness to them (Capitol officials), there was a slight slack in the processing of the documents that led to some additional charges," said Mallari.
It was only upon the instance of Mallari that the budget of P600,000 to cover the fees for the two batches of donations was approved and released.
Mallari, during the civil society's forum with the Provincial Board three weeks ago, brought the matter before PB presiding officer and Vice Governor Yeng Guiao who approved it on the spot.
He explained further that it was his colleagues at WMRI in Michigan who raised the counterpart dollar payments required abroad.
The couple, Dr. Jose and Estrella Evangelista, raised US$6,500 for the service fee and another US$4,300 for shipment charges.
WMRI vice president George Samson, a Filipino who has long been with the global aid group, facilitated the pooling of the request contained in a letter from Governor Eddie Panlilio.
Mallari added that the needs of the various district hospitals here were based upon an assessment and study conducted by a group of volunteer medical practitioners led by Dr. Norberto Cunanan.
Although he lamented Capitol's failure to notify him regarding the arrival of the first shipment - as he is required to witness, document the unloading and distribution of the aid and submit a report to WMRI headquarters - Mallari said: "It's really okay."
"What is important is that the donation has arrived and now in the hands of the beneficiaries, which I pray would be of great benefit for our cabalens," he added.
