IN RESPONSE to the national government’s call for support amid the national health crisis brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic, the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) immediately issued a memorandum on April 1, 2020, on the “Guidelines of the Realignment of Social Development and Management Program Unutilized Funds to Support Affected Impact and Non-impact Communities due to Covid-19.”
The Apex Mining Co., Inc. (AMCI) quickly responded and realigned its Social Development and Management Program (SDMP) and Socio-Cultural funds for the year 2020 to help the local government units (LGUs) address the health crisis in their areas. The funds of which were implemented from April - July 2020.
Financial aid to partner LGUs
AMCI implemented several initiatives in response to the memorandum, and these include the provision of financial assistance to its partner LGUs, namely, the Provincial Government of Davao de Oro, Maco Municipal Government, and the Mabini Municipal Government, through their respective Local Inter-Agency Task Force against Covid-19.
The checks were received by the LGUs’ respective treasurers, subject to the submission of receipts/proof of purchase/expenses, photos, among others.
The provincial government received P200,000 for the first tranche of assistance on April 6 and another P200,000 for the second tranche which was given last April 20. While the municipalities of Maco and Mabini each received P200,000 as cash aid for the first tranche which were given on separate dates in April and another P100,000 as the second phase of cash assistance to Mabini municipality given last April 17 and P200,000 for Maco given last May 1.
Maco also received on June 15 another check from AMCI amounting to P500,000.
Another municipality in Davao de Oro who benefitted from the financial aid given by AMCI was Mawab as it received P10,000 worth of check.
Aside from that AMCI also provided financial assistance to the Philippine Red Cross (PRC)-Davao de Oro chapter amounting to P100,000 which was given last April 17.
AMCI released a total of P2,088,276 for its financial aid program for the second quarter.
Financial aid to partner barangays
AMCI also implemented the provision of financial aid to its partner barangays to augment their resources to support the meals and other incidentals expenses of the personnel manning their respective quarantine checkpoints.
The eight host barangays of Apex, namely, Teresa, Masara, Tagbaros, Mainit, Elizalde, New Barili, New Leyte, and Golden Valley were allocated with P200,000 as support for their identified programs, projects, activities, and other socio-cultural undertakings.
AMCI has extended a total amount of P690,000.
Distribution of hand sanitizers and disinfectants
Aside from the financial aid, AMCI has also donated sanitizers and disinfectants to barangays with community quarantine in the three municipalities of Davao de Oro: Maco, Mawab, and Nabunturan, to help combat the further spread of the dreaded Covid-19.
These barangays include New Barili, Teresa, Masara, Panoraon, New Leyte, Mainit, Tagbaros, Elizalde, Panibasan, Kinuban, Lapulapu, Anibongan, and Dumlan in the Municipality of Maco; barangays Andili, Nueva Visayas, Poblacion, Sawangan, Nuevo Iloco, Saosao, and Bawani in the Municipality of Mawab; and Barangay Libasan in the Municipality of Nabunturan.
All in all, 21 barangays have benefitted from AMCI’s weekly donation of hand sanitizers and disinfectants that were distributed to different Barangay Emergency Response Teams (BERTS) who run, manage and man their respective community checkpoints along Masara Lines.
With this, AMCI has extended a total amount of P364,790.
Distribution of food packs
To augment the government’s food and basic relief goods distribution to ensure that residents will stay in their homes, AMCI also donated food and basic necessities to several barangays in Davao de Oro.
Aside from the sacks of rice AMCI has distributed to several barangays in the municipalities of Maco and Mabini, AMCI also distributed packs of basic needs to several families in the barangay beneficiaries which include canned goods, sugar, coffee/cocoa, milk and detergent/bath soap.
The barangay beneficiaries of the AMCI’s food and basic necessities distribution program were as follows: Teresa (459 families); New Barili (120); Masara (231); Mainit (192); New Leyte (620); Tagbaros (397); Elizalde (1,268); Panibasan (817); Kinuban (493); Limbo (285); Gubatan (206); Calabcab (133); Panoraon (461); Panangan (167); Malamodao (545) all in the Municipality of Maco and Barangay Golden Valley (1,502 families) in the Municipality of Mabini.
The Company spent P2,127,188 for this program.
Cash & in-kind assistance to affected workers
The cash and in-kind (rice) assistance to affected workers was initiated by the company following the delay and possible deferment of the Department of Labor and Employment’s (DOLE) promise to provide cash assistance to affected workers.
As of to date, no cash assistance is received by the affected workers in the host and neighboring barangays from DOLE.
A total of P8,040,485 was allotted for this program.
AMCI’s Covid-19 intervention programs, projects and activities totaled to P13.99 million altogether. (Sponsored Content)