Robredo on Tuesday said she will provide free shuttle services to these workers and other frontliners beginning Wednesday. The service will travel five routes and will pick up workers at 6 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. at different points. It will also be available in the afternoon.
[A] Sa lahat ng mga nag-aabang: Narito ang impormasyon tungkol sa routes ng free shuttle service ng Office ni VP Leni Robredo for health workers bukas, March 18.
— Leni Robredo (@lenirobredo) March 17, 2020
Round trips will start 6AM, 11AM, and 4PM for all routes from the starting station. pic.twitter.com/WXhTH6jR6E
This comes after President Rodrigo Duterte placed the entire Luzon under "enhanced community quarantine" which halted work and mass transportation services to restrict movement on the country's main island which is home to large communities and industries.
This resulted in some health workers, who are exempted from work suspension, walking for as long as three hours to get to their workplace.
Interior chief Eduardo Año earlier said local government units can provide transportation for those who are allowed to go to work and for residents who need to buy their basic needs.
Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto also relaxed restriction on public transport by allowing tricycles in the city to operate to serve health workers and other exempted employees.
We're using our vehicles but it's NOT enough. Our risk assessment shows that we cant ban tricycles at this point.
— Vico Sotto (@VicoSotto) March 17, 2020
Health workers need to get to work. Some emergencies can only be reached by tryk.
For now, I am allowing tricycles to operate w/in Pasig. TORO will issue guidelines
Robredo's team also delivered 7,350 personal protective equipment sets to nine hospitals in the cities of Manila and Quezon on Monday. There are 490 frontliners based in San Lazaro Hospital (50 frontliners), Philippine General Hospital (100), UP-National Institutes of Health (50) in Manila. In Quezon City are the Lung Center of the Philippines (100 frontliners), Philippine Heart Center (50), Quirino Memorial Medical Center (50), Philippine Orthopedic Center (30), Veterans Memorial Medical Center (30) and East Avenue Medical Center (30), she said.
The Vice President said her office raised ₱17.3 million for the sets as well as food and care packages for the health workers and their families.
On Monday, the Philippine General Hospital said some of its staff members were placed under observation for possible COVID-19 infection.
The state-owned hospital asked for donations of masks (both surgical and N95), 70 percent alcohol, face shields and surgical gowns for its employees. The University of the Philippines College of Medicine's Student Council made the same appeal to the public to help fellow students who are interns for the hospital.
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