Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 23) — Some of the country’s largest businesses have pooled donations worth over ₱1.5 billion, which they will hand out as gift certificates to poor families in Luzon for food and groceries during the enhanced community quarantine.
The newly-formed “Project Ugnayan,” chaired by Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation chief Guillermo Luz, said a group of 20 major conglomerates have joined forces to help families most affected by the enhanced community quarantine. The aid involves the distribution of gift certificates worth ₱1,000 each to over a million homes in the Greater Manila area, which they can redeem in supermarkets and groceries for food and other essentials.
The gift cards will be delivered door-to-door initially through Caritas Manila’s Project Damayan and ABS-CBN’s Pantawid ng Pag-ibig program.
“Distribution is ongoing in four pilot areas and will scale up in cooperation with project partners,” Luz said.
The government has restricted movement and business operations in the entire Luzon, only allowing workers in critical industries like healthcare, food preparation, banks, groceries, and media to report to work while the rest were told to stay at home to contain the spread of COVID-19. Malls and offices have been shut, with the state appealing for work-from-home arrangements from March 17 until April 13.
Other companies that are part of the initiative are the Alliance Global Group, AY Foundation, RCBC, Ayala Corporation, Bench, Liwayway Group, Century Pacific, Concepcion Industrial Corporation, DMCI Holdings, ICTSI, and Jollibee. Also part of the donors are the Leonio Group, Metrobank, GT Capital Holdings, Nutri-Asia, PLDT, Metro Pacific Investments Corporation, Puregold, San Miguel Corporation, and the SM Group.
More companies are in talks to participate in the donation drive, the group added.
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