Sixty more emergency health workers from a regional hospital in Region VIII have benefitted from the joint initiative of the Duterte administration and the Romualdezes to boost economic activities in the region and recognize their heroism and sacrifices.
The joint project of President Rodrigo Duterte, House Majority Leader and Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez, and Tingog party-list Rep. Yedda Marie Romualdez has now a total of 160 beneficiaries from the Eastern Visayas Regional Medical Center.
In collaboration with the Office of Civil Defense-Region 8 Chairman Lord Byron P. Torrecarion, the Romualdezes announced that 60 emergency medical personnel of the EVRMC Magsaysay and Cabalawan branches were given 30 rooms at the Madison Park Hotel in Tacloban City last July 25 where they will be accommodated for three months free of charge.
“This is in recognition of our healthcare workers’ courageous stand to deliver the services needed by the people in this time of COVID-19 pandemic. Some of them even sacrificed their lives so that the sick and afflicted may live and many have remained committed to save lives by placing their own in peril,” the Romualdez couple said.
“We are relentless and we will continue to double our efforts in collaboration with the Duterte administration to reopen the economy for the preservation of jobs, ensure medical frontliners’ protection and provide comfort for them to ease the fear, pressures and dangers of their profession. Our profound gratitude to all of them,” the two legislators added.
Last July 17, the Romualdez couple and the OCD had provided 50 rooms for 100 emergency medical frontliners of the EVRMC Magsaysay and Cabalawan branches at the Leyte Park Hotel & Resort.
The two offices of the Romualdez couple led by Tingog President Glenn Capucion, Majority Leader Romualdez’s chief of staff and Tingog secretary-general Rachel Rodeles Santiago and Majority Leader Romualdez’s district office head, lawyer Mark Stephen Reyes, and Rep.Yedda Marie Romualdez’s chief of staff and Tingog second nominee Jude Acidere said they helped again the OCD identified the 60 beneficiaries.
Capucion said the OCD is planning to expand the beneficiaries of the EVRMC from 160 to 200 medical frontliners in the coming weeks.
He also reported that the length of accommodation for 100 healthcare workers at the Leyte Park Hotel and Resort was extended to three months from the initial agreement of one month.
The Romualdez couple reiterated their appreciation and gratitude to Torrecarion “for another job well done” as they stressed that opening the hotel rooms for health workers for convenience to their work is a way of valuing and recognizing their hard work and huge sacrifices in ensuring the successful fight of the Duterte administration against the coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) pandemic.
“Despite being overworked, underpaid and at great risk, our healthcare workers have remained committed to their mandate. They are our heroes for spearheading the fight against the COVID-19,” the Romualdez couple said.
“We have to protect our medical workers from the stress of their work by ensuring that they have safe and comfortable place to stay. Rest assured that your representatives in Congress are in close coordination with the Executive Department in trying to find ways on how to minimize the economic impact and social cost of COVID-19,” they said.
Romualdez is the chair of the powerful House Committee on Rules and co-chairperson of the Defeat COVID-19 Ad Hoc Committee (DCC) with Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano while Rep. Yedda Marie Romualdez is the chair of the House Committee on the Welfare of Children.
Upon instruction from President Duterte, OCD has been mandated to protect healthcare workers, especially in ensuring a safer accommodation during the pandemic