Bulacan food packs, rice for poor underway during quarantine

Gov. Daniel Fernando speak to newsmen at the Bulacan Capitol Gymnasium as cavans of rice for food packs arrive. Photo by the Bulacan Provincial Disaster Reduction Management Office.

CITY OF MALOLOS — The Bulacan Provincial Government is preparing to distribute 120,000 food packs and sanitation kits to more than 80,000 poor residents to help them cope with the quarantine that will last until April.

The packs will be sent to households in 24 municipalities and cities, which have been covered by a Luzon lockdown to prevent the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

Governor Daniel Fernando ordered the immediate purchase of basic goods following a Thursday (March 19) resolution, which places Bulacan under a state of calamity due to six confirmed COVID patients, one of whom had died.

Each of the 24 city and municipal government will be given 50 sacks of rice. Each of the 569 villages will receive 5 sacks.

The province allotted its P20-milion Disaster Risk Reduction and Management fund and a partial amount from the separate P60-million calamity fund to address the province’s needs, such as the purchase of personal protective equipment (PPE) suits for health workers.

Dr. Rawland Dave Domingo, director of the Bulacan Medical Center, said health workers need  55 PPE suits each day, as well as 125 N95 surgical masks.

Earlier, Fernando had requisitioned five buses and 10 jeepneys to transport Bulacan health workers each day to eight government hospitals.

Guiguinto town Mayor Ambrosio Cruz Jr., president of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines, said the food packs would prioritize the poor and people who lost their livelihood when the quarantine prevented them from doing their jobs, like tricycle drivers.

“We cannot feed everyone,” he said.

Edited by LZB