Red Cross help elates couple
A Filipino couple repatriated from Myanmar expressed their appreciation to the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) for showing professionalism and genuine concern in providing assistance to the government and to overseas Filipino workers (OFW) amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Lyra Flores-Bisnar wrote to Senator Richard J. Gordon, PRC chairman and CEO, to express utmost appreciation for the prompt assistance that he and the PRC team extended to them during the mandatory quarantine period.
Lyra and her husband Gerardo Alfredo, both lawyers, have been working in Yangon, Myanmar since 2015. They were part of a contingent of OFW repatriated last 18 May.
On 19 May, Lyra was able to get the result of her swab test for COVID-19 and she tested negative. However, her husband’s name was not included in the list of OFW who tested negative which was posted on the Philippine Coast Guard’s Facebook page on 24 May.
We would like to thank you for the professionalism, genuine concern, and work that you have dedicated.
They received information through back-channels that her husband may have tested positive and would have to be re-tested. Their fears and anxiety that was prompted by the information were further fanned by the lack of official communication from concerned government agencies.
“For 2 days, we had filled up several forms and were desperately calling the relevant government agencies and hotline numbers, without any response or word on my husband’s results to verify the unofficial information that we had received, and neither had we been contacted or advised as to what would happen next,” she lamented.
In their desperation, she wrote to Gordon for assistance in the morning of 26 May and was emailed the result of her husband’s test on the evening of the same day. Contrary to the unofficial information that they got, her husband tested negative for the virus too.
Lyra said that upon receiving the email, their fears as to her husband’s health were allayed and they were further relieved when their certificates of clearance were delivered to their hotel.
“There is no doubt in our minds that such progress was a result of your kind attention to the matter… We would like to thank you for the professionalism, genuine concern, and work that you have dedicated to assisting the government and us OFW during these unprecedented times,” she said.
In the country’s commemoration of its 122nd
Independence Day Friday, the Philippine Red Cross extended assistance to the most vulnerable families affected by the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in the cities of Mandaluyong and San Juan in Metro Manila.
Led by Gordon, cash donations were given to households that lost their homes after a huge fire broke out in Barangay Addition Hills in Mandaluyong last 1 June. The barangay also has the highest number of positive cases of COVID-19 in the city with 151 confirmed cases as of today.
In San Juan, hundreds of families from Barangay West Crame, mostly those that lost their livelihood due to ECQ and do not have any means to support their families, also received cash grants. West Crame is the largest barangay in the city in terms of population.
“This is only part of the P70 million that we are distributing to the Philippines. This is not a donation. It is to assist those who want to start life anew. We are one with you in your grief and desire to recover,” Gordon told the beneficiaries.
Gordon also gave residents inspiring messages for them to not lose hope amid the COVID-19 pandemic and encouraged them to help one another in times of crises.
Cash donations were given to households that lost their homes after a huge fire broke out in Barangay Addition Hills in Mandaluyong last 1 June.
“Do not lose hope. This is part of our trials. The Red Cross wants to give you a lift and inspiration to be able to rise from this crisis. Independence is not a ceremony. It is not a parade. True freedom is being able to help others,” he said.
Mandaluyong and San Juan cities are the first two out of 18 cities and municipalities that will receive cash assistance from the PRC. This program aims to support the families affected by the national state of calamity for COVID-19 enhanced quarantine situation to meet their needs through the provision of multi-purpose cash grants.
Also present during the distribution were Mandaluyong City Mayor Carmelita Abalos, San Juan City Mayor Francis Zamora and local officials of the two cities.