AS THE number of Covid-19 patients in the region continues to rise, more individuals and civic-oriented groups have continued to respond to the challenge of helping frontliners and residents who are badly hit by the viral pandemic.
These include the Cebu City Public Schools Teachers Association which has turned over a total of P200,000 cash assistance to the Philippine Nurses Association (PNA)-Cebu Chapter on Tuesday, April 21, 2020.
Remus Mariñas, Cebu City Public Schools Teachers Association president, said the P200,000 is a portion of the P600,000 they were able to raise from the teachers from the Department of Education (DepEd) Cebu City Division.
"It started as a challenge for the Cebu City Division teachers to share their blessings to our frontliners. Our target was only P100,000, but from the Cebu City Division alone, we were able to raise a total of around P600,000," he told SunStar Cebu.
DepEd Cebu City Division has close to 6,000 teachers.
Mariñas said they also introduced the same initiative to DepEd 7 which was later on approved by DepEd 7 Director Salustiano Jimenez.
"We are close to hitting P4 million in contribution from the teachers in Region 7," he said.
DepEd Mandaue City Division alone was able to raise around P420,000 which they directly turned over to its partner hospitals including the Eversley Childs Sanitarium and General Hospital and the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC).
Mariñas said the P200,000 assistance they turned over to the PNA Cebu is intended to help frontliners of public hospitals such as the Cebu City Medical Center, St. Anthony Mother and Child Hospital and VSMMC.
Besides extending financial aid to hospitals, Mariñas said they also distributed relief packs to two sitios in Cebu City that were placed under lockdown—sitios Zapatera in Barangay Luz and sitio Sto. Niño in Barangay Labangon.
The group also distributed food packs to utility workers and school guards of all schools in Cebu City, including those in the remote areas.
Should there be enough funds, Mariñas said they also plan to extend the same assistance to the families of their students affected by the lockdown.
Moreover, the PNA-CCI, in a statement, expressed gratitude to the DepEd Cebu City Division saying that their donation could go "a long way."
Mariñas said the association received overwhelming additional requests for food, personal protective equipment, alcohols, laboratory gowns, faces shields, masks, soaps, vitamins and other essential needs from all over Cebu. (WBS)