PRC Chairman and CEO Richard “Dick” Gordon (right) is joined by former Cebu City councilor Margot Osmeña and former mayor Tomas Osmeña. CDNDigital photo | Wenilyn Sabalo
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Over the past ten years, the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) has poured P1 billion worth of emergency and rehabilitation aid in Cebu.
PRC Chairman and CEO Richard “Dick” Gordon, in a press conference in Cebu on Saturday, July 1, 2023, said these include assistance in houses, cash grants, livelihoods, and other aid to victims of various calamities in Cebu.
Gordon is in Cebu for National Disaster Resilience Month and other ongoing PRC responses to current disasters in the province. He was accompanied by former Cebu City mayor Tomas Osmeña and former city councilor Margot Osmeña.
Gordon also shared that talks are ongoing regarding the plan of the city government of Carcar to donate 1,000 square meters of land to the PRC expansion program in Cebu.
Initially, he said, the PRC plans to put up a new blood bank located in Carcar City.
“Well, we have to talk about it. We can put up a new blood bank. We’ll have to raise the money for the blood bank,” he told reporters.
PRC projects in Cebu
Gordon said that over the last 10 years, PRC has provided 8,741 houses and repaired 1,263 others. These housing initiatives benefitted thousands of families in Bantayan, Daanbantayan, Madridejos, San Remigio, and Bogo, which were badly hit by Super Typhoon Yolanda in 2013.
Also part of the P1 billion assistance is the P89 million worth of assistance to 8,854 families in Cebu and the distribution of cash grants worth P43 million to 12,517 families, and food packs for 21.789 families.
During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the PRC also established a molecular laboratory in Cebu to provide faster swab and saliva testing services.
The said laboratory accommodated 4,000 tests per day.
The PRC also installed medical tents and Negative Pressure Ambulance near hospitals in Cebu to transport COVID patients.
Gordon said PRC was able to raise funds from donors and with the help of the International Red Cross.
“We are a blood bank center and we want to expand some more. That is why it’s important that the premier humanitarian organization in the world, the PRC is always on toes to make sure that we can address the suffering of the vulnerable,” he said. /rcg
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