Robredo says her People of the Year award belongs to volunteers in fight vs COVID-19

MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Robredo, cited by PeopleAsia magazine as one of its People of the Year awardees, says the honor rightfully belongs to the staffers, donors, and volunteers who have been working with her in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It’s an honor for me to accept this award, but the truth is this is not for me but for all the people who trusted and continue to trust the work being done and the advocacy being pushed by the Office of the Vice President,” Robredo said in Filipino in her message during the virtual awarding ceremony on Monday night.

“From donors to our volunteers, to our hardworking staff who really went above and beyond their service — we have proven that nobody travels or succeeds alone. Our journey towards being a more responsive, more advocacy-driven office, geared towards uplifting the lives of our people, could only have been made possible through a vast constellation of efforts,” she added.

Robredo assured the public that her office would sustain the various projects it had started — from conducting donation drives to buying personal protective equipment and COVID-19 testing kits, to providing services for frontliners, setting up education hubs for students without access to the internet and gadgets, up to the more recent mobile testing project.

“The challenge of these times is huge, but there is a bigger opportunity for each of us to help, to contribute, and work together in bayanihan. There are already so many of us doing the work, but I hope we can keep finding more of us to forge pathways of collaboration, pulling together towards a single horizon,” she said.

“Rest assured that I and the rest of my team at the OVP will continue to work hard alongside you in pursuit of a better normal for all,” she added.

Robredo and the OVP’s COVID-19 response has earned praise for its being conducted on a limited budget with just the help of private sector partners.

Documents released by OVP last December showed that for 2020, it has put together a total of P505.3 million in assistance for COVID-19 response and another P35.06 million for disaster relief operations, including those for the eruption of Taal Volcano and the series of typhoons late that year.

For the pandemic response, P306.3 million came from the OVP’s own funds, while P199 million came from donations of private sector partners.

Most of the funds allocated for the pandemic response went to medical assistance worth P206.7 million. Next came funds for personal protective equipment from both local and imported manufacturers worth P64.07 million and coronavirus testing kits worth P56.84 million.

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