Jade Nebato distributes face masks for free in Barangay Jagobiao, Mandaue City. CDN Digital photo | Rosalie Abatayo
Mandaue City, Cebu — It takes a community and its people to fight the 2019-novel coronavirus.
For Jade Nebato, an online seller of items of DOTA 2, sharing his blessing by giving free face masks is one way of helping protect his community.
Nebato, 23, distributed over 100 pieces of cloth facemaks to motorcycle for hire (habal-habal) drivers in Barangay Jagobiao on Tuesday morning, February 4, 2020.
Read: DTI takes steps to address shortage of surgical masks
Nebato is a resident of Sitio Sta. Cruz in the barangay Jagobiao.
“Naa man koy nadawat nga grasya so akong gipili nga i-share ni by purchasing the masks para sa mga driver ug sa among mga silingan,” Nebato told CDN Digital.
(I recently received grace so I chose to share these by purchasing the masks for the drivers and my neighbors.)
Nebato ordered 250 pieces of cloth face masks from a cooperative in the barangay. As of Tuesday morning, only half have been delivered.
Front liners
Nebato gave the first batch of the face masks to the motorcycle riders who were parking at the junction near the Eversley Child’s Sanitarium and General Hospital, one of the quarantine sites for passengers arriving from China and its special administrative regions.
Read: Filipinos arriving in Cebu from Hong Kong will be quarantined at Eversley
Nebato said the motorcycle riders are his first priority for the masks because they are the “front liners” of the village.
“Akong gisiguro ang mga habalhabal drivers kay sila man gud ang una nimong makita inig anhi nimo sa barangay. Sila man ang mga front liners,” Nebato said.
Nebato said he will also distribute the remaining face masks to his neighbors.
Helping his community avoid the virus, Nebato said, is also his way of protecting his family.
Nebato admitted that they were shocked when they learned that the Eversley hospital in their neighborhood would host the persons under quarantine for the nCoV.
But Nebato was determined to urge his neighbors and other residents in the village not to panic and instead do what they can, such as practicing proper hygiene, to prevent contracting the disease. /bmjo