Google donates $5M in ad credits for PH gov’t COVID-19 info drive

MANILA, Philippines — Search engine Google has donated $5-million worth of search advertising credits to the Philippine government to support its information drive on the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

Google Philippines Head of Government Affairs and Public Policy Yves Gonzalez said information campaigns for the Department of Health (DOH) and the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) are already running in the search engine.

“Ang Google po ay nagbigay ng $5 million in search ad credits,” Gonzalez said in a public briefing.

(Google donated $5 million in search ad credits.)

“Magagamit po yan ng Philippine government agencies upang mailabas po yung mga kritikal na impormasyon nila ukol sa COVID-19 at pati na rin po sa ating mga economic recovery measures.

(That will be used by Philippine government agencies in disseminating critical information on COVID-19 and its economic recovery measures.)

Gonzalez said Google is expecting other agencies like the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) and the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) to roll out its own campaign soon.

“Sa ganitong paraan po, matutulungan po natin ang gobyerno na malabas po natin yung importanteng mensahe sa mga nagssearch po sa Google,” Gonzalez said.

(This way, we can help the government disseminate important messages to those who are using Google as a search engine.)

Google recently launched its Community Mobility Report where data of people’s movements can be analyzed.

Edited by JPV