The free shuttle services of the Office of the Vice President served frontliners in Cebu from July until August 8, 2020. | Photos courtesy of VP Leni Robredo
MANDAUE CITY, Cebu – The Office of the Vice President will already wrap up its #BayanihanSugbuanon, a COVID-19 response operations in Cebu province by the end of August.
In an advisory that was posted on her official Facebook page Sunday night, August 23, Vice President Leni Robredo said that her office will now shift their focus on Metro Manila were cases of the infection continue to rise.
“However, our office remains committed to assisting frontliners and communities amid this crisis. Our Free Ferry Service and the local production of our PPE suits, where we tapped sewing communities in Cebu, will still proceed amid this shift,” the advisory reads.
Robredo said that since the start of their #BayanihanSugbuanon program in July, they managed to provide transportation to 11,768 passengers, including frontliners, who availed of their free shuttle services that plied routes in the cities of Cebu, Mandaue, Talisay, and Naga and the municipalities of Consolacion and Talamban.
Their free ride program was made possible with the help of nearly 200 local volunteers.
On the other hand, the free ferry services which they opened in Lapu-Lapu City served 602 passengers who traveled daily between mainland Mactan Island and Olango Island.
With the help of their partners, OVP also provided dormitory accommodations to 232 frontliners who came from the cities of Cebu, Mandaue, Lapu-Lapu, and Talisay.
Also, they managed to give out relief packs, meals, and hygiene kits among others, to various communities here using the P2.25 million office allocation.
Robredo said that they also delivered donated swab booths to the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center, Cebu Doctors University Hospital, the IEC Convention Bayanihan Swabbing Center, and the West Cebu Clustered Clinic Swab Center while their office also assisted Cebuanos who needed to undergo swab testing through their Swab Cab, a free transportation service to and from the Bayanihan Cebu Swabbing Center.
“At the core of our operations is a small team from our young OVP staff and the Vice President Security Detachment (VPSD), who held the fort for us during the past few weeks, spearheading one initiative after another,” the advisory said.
“We are grateful to all the volunteers and partners who helped them along the way, whose generosity and warmth made Cebu truly feel like home for our team.”