Senator Cynthia Villar is hitting two birds with one stone in her latest effort to help Filipinos amidst the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) crisis in the country.
She is distributing face masks to all barangays in her home city of Las Piñas, which are sewn by a group of women in Cavite.
“We are helping prevent the spread of COVID-19 in our barangays, at the same time, we are able to provide a source of income for some women in Cavite, which as the rest of the country, is in enhanced community quarantine or lockdown”, said Villar.
Prior to this, Villar has distributed bottled drinking water, rice and other relief goods to the city’s barangays.
Her family also provides the daily meals and temporary housing of frontliners of the Las Pinas General Hospital and Satellite Trauma Center.
A total of 4,400 cloth face masks will be done and distributed to 22 barangays in Las Piñas. The women who will sew them will be paid. They will also be sewing PPE (personal protective equipment) Hazmat which will be donated to medical frontliners, out of the cloth materials donated by Barangay Treasurer Bridget Chiongbian of Forbes Park. Senator Villar will pay for the labor.
The same group of women from Dasmariñas, Cavite were tapped by Villar to make bags out of the tarpaulins used for her campaign during the last elections.
According to Villar, sewing face masks is a perfect source of livelihood for the women since they can do it without leaving their homes or during the quarantine/lockdown period.
“As you know, I have always been providing women livelihood projects to sustain them and augment their family’s income,” she said.
During this health emergency, they really need sources of income, so that they will not be entirely dependent on relief goods,” added Villar.
