A SMALL bamboo cart filled with canned goods, fresh vegetables and other food items was set up by a kind-hearted lady on Maginhawa Street in Quezon City. That woman hails from Angeles City, Pampanga.
In a cardboard, written was: "Community Pantry. Kumuha batay sa pangangailangan. Magbigay batay sa kakayanan."
In only a few days, many other community pantries sprung up in many parts of Metro Manila, and here in Pampanga. And all over the country, community pantries mushroomed, providing people whose livelihoods were affected by the pandemic with a lifeline, even if for only a meal.
Suddenly, the spirit of bayanihan was alive: people were helping each other.
Inspired by the resurgence of the bayanihan spirit among Filipinos, here in Barangay Turu, the farthest and an almost isolated barangay of Magalang, Pampanga, the Bridges of Benevolent Initiatives Foundation (BBIF) of the Midori Hotel with Senator Risa Hontiveros fielded a mobile medical diagnostic truck.
The truck provides free medical diagnostics and tests, such as antigen test, x-ray, blood chem, ECG and ultrasound, among others.
"Our aim is to bring these services, which are otherwise expensive in private laboratories, free to our people who cannot afford the services and afraid to go to hospitals because of the pandemic. The medical truck is manned by volunteer medical professionals in partnership with Quest Diagnostics," said Dr. Irineo Alvaro Jr., BBFI chairman.
"We are very happy that the office of Senator Risa Hontiveros has thrown its full support, and has committed to the sustainability of the project to serve more people not only in Pampanga but other nearby provinces. Senator Hontiveros is one of the authors of the Universal Health Care Law. Through the cooperation of BBIF and the office of Senator Hontiveros, we may be able to field our medical truck on a year-round basis, even beyond the containment of the coronavirus," Alvaro said.
For the initial project in Barangay Turu in Magalang, Hontiveros’s representatives met with Mayor Romulo Pecson, represented by Administrator Lyndon Cuananan, Councilor Koko Gonzales, Eller Pecson, Harrry Zemel, Joel Cruz and Barangay Captain Juancho Manabat, to assure them that those who will be found with comorbidity will be accommodated to public hospitals like Jose B. Lingad Regional Memorial Hospital in the case of Pampanga, worry free of any expenses they may incur.
Aside from the local government units and public health institutions, the project is also being coordinated with local civil society organizations, making it a truly multi-institutional undertaking.
"It is our belief that the time has come that private sector, though burdened and affected as well by the pandemic, must respond to the aid of our ordinary people who have been severely impacted by this crisis," he said.
"Let us make our communities 'maginhawa' even at these difficult times. We are at war against a deadly virus. But we cannot win this war unless we fight it together. Let us use this war not only to defeat the virus, but in forging unity and cooperation among our people and peace in our communities," Alvaro said. (Chris Navarro)