The Iglesia Ni Cristo has pledged "all-out aid" to underprivileged families and frontliners involved in efforts to contain the Covid-19 outbreak and said on Tuesday that it has ramped up "direct assistance and sustained enabling efforts" to members and non-members alike by distributing food packs for the whole country and providing PPEs for frontliners in medical institutions.
According to INC Auditor-General Glicerio B. Santos Jr., with its strategically-positioned Ecclesiastical Districts around the Philippines, the INC continues to mount massive food distribution programs across the country while observing rules prevailing under the ECQ.
"INC Executive Minister Brother Eduardo V. Manalo has directed the Church to give all-out aid and assist government efforts to quickly alleviate hunger by distributing food packs around the country, maximizing the logistics advantages of having Churches and District offices all over the archipelago," said Santos Jr..
In addition to this, Santos Jr. said the Church would also provide all-out aid in efforts to prevent the spread of the virus by providing "tangible and usable assistance to our brave frontliners."
The INC recently donated one thousand pieces of personal protective equipment and a thousand gallons of disinfectant to the National Kidney and Transplant Institute worth two million pesos, with NKTI expressing gratitude for Church initiatives aimed at helping doctors, nurses and medical personnel.
INC likewise also recently donated 1,000 PPEs and 500 cavans of rice to the Malasakit Movement, which was received by MMDA Spokesperson Asec. Celine Pialago. The Church previously provided hospitals in Quezon City with 13 million pesos' worth of PPEs and disinfectant.
"This batch of PPEs and equipment is the latest wave of supplies we have been giving to our hospitals. We won't stop here. We are in fact already preparing our next set of donations," explained the INC official.
When the ECQ started, the INC initially donated five million pesos to the Quezon City local government for Covid-19 related relief as well as three million pesos to the local government of Davao City on top of earlier equipment donations to various QC hospitals.
Santos Jr. added that the INC has been closely coordinating with the Inter-Agency Task Force on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) for the use of the Philippine Arena, the Philippine Sports Stadium, the Garden Suites, and various facilities inside the Ciudad de Victoria in Bocaue, Bulacan as a "mega facility" for centralized medical operations and massive testing facility by the government.
Ciudad de Victoria’s Garden Suites shall likewise be used to house and quarantine around 150 Overseas Filipino Workers that have been repatriated from various parts of the globe. More OFWs are expected to arrive at the INC's multi-purpose compound in the coming days.
Santos Jr. said that the INC leadership wants the INC "to be pro-active in helping the Filipino, especially at this crucial time when national public health and safety is at stake. We continue to work with both public and private sector stakeholders in coordinating assistance efforts because we recognize that everyone must pitch in so we can overcome this outbreak."
"Lahat po tayo ay Pilipino, ano man ang estado natin sa lipunan at ano man ang paniniwala ng bawat isa sa atin. Kailangan nating magtulungan sa panahon ng krisis (We are all Filipinos, whatever our social status and beliefs. We need to help each other during this time of crisis). When we work together as one, we can heal as one."