Children at Delpan evacuation center in Tondo, Manila at the height of the Typhoon Glenda INQUIRER PHOTO/JOAN BONDOC
The Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) is ready to provide medicines and shoulder the hospital bills of victims of Typhoon “Glenda.”
PCSO Vice-Chairman and General Manager Jose Ferdinand M. Rojas II said that the charity agency will shoulder the bills of those confined or treated in public hospitals as a direct result of the effects of Glenda, which is said to be even stronger than Typhoon “Milenyo.”
“All of PCSO’s departments,” added Rojas, “particularly the Southern Tagalog, Bicol Region and Visayas departments, are closely monitoring the situation.”
According to Rojas, the present PCSO board of directors made it a policy of the agency to subsidize the bills of patients directly affected by national emergencies and calamities who are being treated at government hospitals and healthcare facilities.
The policy was applied during previous natural disasters, including Typhoons Yolanda, Milenyo, Sendong, Pablo, the conflict in Zamboanga, landslide in Compostela Valley, and many other emergencies.
“This is in line,” said Rojas, “with the agency’s charter, Republic Act No. 1169, which mandates that PCSO provide assistance to ‘charities of national character.’”
In addition to hospitalization assistance, PCSO will also be distributing Family Emergency Medicine (FEM) kits which have been prepared in readiness for the monsoon season.