San Miguel Corp. (SMC) is stepping up its ongoing food assistance program for poor communities affected by stricter quarantine protocols, extending it to nearby provinces beyond Metro Manila such as Cavite and Laguna, with total donations now at P11 million.
Ramon Ang, SMC president and chief operating officer, said the delivery of the first batch of food donations for Metro Manila cities started earlier this week, and the company was already looking to expand to nearby provinces including cities that are host to its facilities.
The donation is seen to benefit over 19,500 families in these areas.
Ang also said while the stricter quarantine restrictions are necessary to curb the rising number of COVID-19 cases and reduce the strain on our health care facilities and workers, “for many people who earn a living on a daily basis, hunger is an issue; putting food on the table is a constant worry especially if they can’t work for days.”
“Through these food donations, we hope to be able to help local governments address the needs of vulnerable communities and hopefully, help people to remain safe in their homes.
The company initially donated some 86,400 pieces of canned goods to benefit around 17,280 families in 16 Metro Manila cities and municipalities. It also donated 148,000 packs of nutribuns for soup kitchens, hospital front liners, and villages in granular lockdown in Pasig.
SMC will continue to work with the local government units to assess the needs of vulnerable communities in their areas and look at what other assistance we can provide. “This implementation of enhanced community quarantine may be hard for most of us, but it’s something I know we can all get through,” Ang related. “The important thing is to stay at home and keep safe so we can reduce the number of COVID-19 cases our medical frontliners have to take care of.”
“The vaccines are coming. In the meantime, let’s all do our part so we can put our country, our economy, and lives, back on track,” he added.
