The Philippines has eased lockdown restrictions in Metro Manila and several other provinces as the country tries to restart and salvage an economy flattened by the pandemic. But the pandemic is still a clear and ever-present danger to the populace. Here are a few more stories of people protecting our frontliners and other Filipinos.

ARANETA CITY
The J. Amado Araneta Foundation, the social arm of Araneta City, gave squash and vitamin boosters to close to a thousand security, sanitation, and maintenance personnel serving Araneta City on May 31 and June 1.

The squash were donated by Kay Jonatas of the Kalabasa Project which helps squash farmers in Nueva Ecija to sell their produce during the crisis. The vitamin-booster juice drinks were donated by the family of Theresa Vialu.

“It’s a win-win situation for us. We are able to take part in the Kalabasa Project’s mission to help squash producers, and at the same time, provide something valuable to reward and safeguard the health of Araneta City frontliners. This initiative has allowed us to reach out to a lot of people in these challenging times,” Diane Romero, the foundation’s executive director, said in a release.

AYALA FOUNDATION
Ayala Foundation, in partnership with the National Historical Commission of the Philippines produced the “Magiting mask,” a face mask featuring the colors of the Philippine flag and the eight-rayed sun. The masks were created in celebration of National Flag Day on May 28.

The foundation aims to distribute the masks to frontliners and essential workers as it was made to honor those “who are making a huge sacrifice for the nation to contain the spread of the pandemic,” said a release.

The historical commission said that this year, they are distributing the face masks instead of small flags. Its commissioner, Rene Escalante hopes that when people see the masks they are reminded of the heroism of the revolutionary Filipinos in 1898 and the heroism of the COVID-19 frontliners.

GLOBE TELECOM
Globe myBusiness continued its “Heroes for Heroes” program by providing meals for frontliners in small, medium enterprises specializing in groceries, logistics, and medicine.

The program, now on its third and fourth cycle, was initially meant to provide food for medical frontliners while helping food businesses keep afloat. This has since expanded to other frontliners as the program distributed food packs to 20 businesses like Merry Mart Grocery, Kemp Mart, Unitop Supermarket, Ansaldo Logistics, and Amesco Drugstore. The meals were fully funded by Globe myBusiness and provided by partner restaurants like 121 Restaurant, Northpark Noodles, Bigg’s Diner, Burger Project, and Tuesday Kitchen.

“While hospitals are taking care of COVID-19 patients, employees working in supermarkets, groceries, logistic platforms, and drugstores risk their lives daily to serve those under quarantine. We would like to express our gratitude to them by making sure they have the resources they need to stay healthy,” said Celeste Porto, marketing head at Globe myBusiness, in a statement.

RICO BLANCO
Singer Rico Blanco, former frontman of the band Rivermaya, performed a special cover of the band’s 2005 hit “Liwanag sa Dilim” in support of the BayaniHands project of P&G Safeguard for the Philippine National Red Cross. The song was initially featured in the video launching the project and is meant to honor the frontliners.

The project aims to raise funds for frontliners which include buying personal protective equipment.

Mr. Blanco was touched by the use of the song that he recorded at home.

“In support for the BayaniHands project where they raise funds for the frontliners through the Philippine Red Cross, I thought to make a quarantine version of “Liwanag sa Dilim” to honor our modern-day heroes,” Mr. Blanco said in a statement.

Those who want to support the project can do so by buying donation vouchers on Lazada at https://lzd.co/BayaniHands.

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