Fight vs cyber threat
PLDT Enterprise, through its information and communication technology arm ePLDT Inc. is providing free three-month cyber threat monitoring and response solution, to healthcare centers and hospitals in the country.
The cyber security solution will be rollout starting with Metro Pacific Hospital Holdings, Inc. (MPHHI) hospitals.
West Metro Medical, Cardinal Santos Medical Center, St. Elizabeth Hospital, and Davao Doctors Hospital, and Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, to name a few, are availing of cybersecurity services offered for free by PLDT Enterprise and ePLDT.
The solution helps identify and verify attacks that are not detected by traditional firewalls. It quickly remediates attacks before they cause damage or disruption. It also assists their internal IT in supporting uptime and resiliency of critical systems in the face of cyber threats. This system is enrolled remotely to comply with the quarantine.
With COVID-19 being a priority for all hospitals domestically and globally, PLDT Enterprise and ePLDToffered the Security Operations Center as a Service (SOCaaS) free for three months so they can be worry-free when it comes to cyber security threats during this critical time.
The free service has also been extended to other industries such as government and manufacturing, to prevent disruption in their operation.
Mobile stores
Mobile subscribers and “ka-partner” retailers can now access reloading stations while under enhanced community quarantine through the initiative of local government units and Smart Communications Inc.
The initiative rolls out jeepalengkes or mobile stores in barangays and cities affected by the lockdown.
This allows Smart, TNT, and Sun prepaid subscribers to reload their phones and buy PLDT and Smart Bro devices, whenever they buy fresh produce or supplies in the mobile markets rolled out by the city LGU.
This service was initially launched in the mega cities of Caloocan and Valenzuela, and other areas in Luzon, as well as select towns in Cebu.
Rice donation
SL Agritech Corp. (SLAC), leading hybrid rice company and manufacturer of Doña Maria Premium Quality Rice, donated 25,000 kilograms of Doña Maria Jasponica brown rice to different foundations, hospitals and donation networks in a bid to boost the immune system of Filipino recipients. Some of the company’s partners are GMA Kapuso Foundation, the Quezon City local government and online food community Let’s Eat Pare.
Dr. Henry Lim, SLAC chairman and chief executive officer, believes brown rice will help improve the health of those in the frontlines and in other affected communities.
Lim highlighted the need to prioritize food security amid the implementation of quarantine protocols in many parts of the country and the resultant difficulty by many Filipinos to access food.
In addition to the sacks of brown rice, the company donated a total of 100,000kg of white rice to its partner organizations. It also gave away 7,000 packs of its snack food product Doña Maria Brown Rice Puff and 3,000 servings of ready-to-eat meals to different hospitals, including COVID-19 referral centers UP-Philippine General Hospital and Dr. Jose M. Rodriguez Memorial Hospital. The other SLAC beneficiaries are the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM), UERM Memorial Hospital and University of Sto. Tomas Hospital.
Pilmico Bread Program helps small bakeries cope with slowdown
Normelinda Chavez, who owns Norlyn’s Bakery in Tarlac, was worried that the years she spent working and saving to put up her small business would all be for naught when the Luzon-wide Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) was declared.
The same concern weighed heavy on Marlon Catmon, owner of C&G Bakery in Iligan, when the number of customers buying his products disappeared seemingly overnight.
Although quarantine restrictions have affected retail operations across the MSME spectrum, it is the micro enterprises such as those owned by Chavez and Catmon, that have borne the brunt of the income slowdown thus serving as Pilmico’s driving force to initiate its bread donation initiative.
Pilmico Food Corporation, an Aboitiz food unit, started donating bread with a dual purpose: provide bread for frontline workers, and help support micro bakery enterprises amid the ECQ. The initiative has produced and distributed over 520,000 pieces of bread to hospitals, police stations, and military checkpoints in various parts of the country.
In order to maintain supply and help distribute the bread efficiently, Pilmico partnered with community bakeries which were paid either in flour or in cash, equivalent to the cost of bread produced and acquired. Big bakeries were mostly paid in flour, while small bakeries, like Norlyn’s and C&G, were paid in cash.
Pilmico also partnered with Gardenia, a leading bread brand in the Philippines, for the distribution of 10,000 loaves of bread in Taguig, Tarlac, and Cagayan de Oro.
“In times of crisis, when there are many things to worry about, it is important that the basic needs of people are provided for. Amidst the COVID-19 crisis, Pilmico has sought to address this need by bringing comfort through food. With the bread donation initiative, we continue to provide some measure of relief to the communities around us that are affected by the current situation,” said Tristan Aboitiz, Pilmico President and Chief Executive Officer.
