WHILE most of its restaurants have temporarily shut during the quarantine period in Cebu, Abaca Baking Co. has shifted its operations to producing meals for frontliners.
Since March, Abaca has donated over 16,000 food packs, thousands of sanitary bags, shower caps and a large amount of linens to hospitals fighting the Covid-19 health crisis.
“The Abaca Group, to date, has donated to 14 hospitals across Cebu City, Mandaue City, Lapu-Lapu City and Talisay City. We have also donated to various Philippine National Police checkpoints, the Navy, frontliners at barangays Apas, Banilad, Luz, Labangon, Talamban and Kasambagan, the Cebu City Command Center, Cebu print media, and other essential workers and non-medical frontliners,” a company statement said.
The restaurant operator also plans to reach out to more provincial hospitals around Cebu, especially those designated as Covid-19 hubs.
The company has maintained a skeletal workforce to continue its deliveries to hospitals and frontliners.
“We provide housing and transportation for these staff. Meanwhile, we have also made work-from-home arrangements for some of our support staff,” it said.
The company had to put most of their staff on floating status, hoping the crisis, which has badly hit the income of restaurants, normalizes soon.
“Our efforts are geared towards assisting our staff as much as we can by making sure to avail for all of them the support from government agencies and by releasing 13th-month pay and leave credits ahead,” Abaca said.
As much as possible, the company wants its people to have an employment to come back to after the lockdown.
“All the measures to cut back on labor are in no way a means to conserve profit as we are willingly making use of it to secure the group’s return to operations,” Abaca said.
The group already donated to hospitals namely the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center, Chong Hua Hospital (Fuente), Chong Hua Hospital (Mandaue), Velez Hospital, Cebu Doctors’ University Hospital, Cebu City Medical Center, UC Medical Hospital, Perpetual Succour Hospital of Cebu, Eversley Childs Sanitarium and General Hospital, St. Anthony Hospital, Lapu-Lapu District Hospital, Mactan Doctors Hospital, Mandaue City Hospital and Talisay District Hospital. (JOB)