A legislator from Metro Manila on Tuesday called on big businesses and companies to practice corporate social responsibility and help Filipinos affected by the coronavirus crisis.
Valenzuela Rep. Wes Gatchalian, chairman of House committee on trade and industry, said the health sector, particularly frontline health workers, need the help of big companies.
“These companies have the whole gamut of resources under them and they are just waiting to be tapped for assistance,” Gatchalian said.
He said the House has already approved on second reading a bill seeking to institutionalize corporate social responsibility in the operation of the corporations in the country.
“The principle to imbue a social function to these business organizations to become effective partners of our government is very timely in this extraordinary time of great need,” he said.
Gatchalian said any donation will be met with “outstretched arms”, especially that President Rodrigo Duterte encouraged corporation social responsibility after the Chief Executive placed the entire Luzon under an enhanced community quarantine to contain the spread of coronavirus.
“Any uncertainty of moral or ethical concern must give way to the primordial intent to fulfill a social and civic responsibility,” Gatchalian said.
Medical practitioners have called for public donations of medical masks due to lack of supplies amid rising cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) in the country.
Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said the government is accelerating the release of medical supplies from ports in the country.
The Bureau of Customs (BOC) also has denied that it is holding and delaying the release of essential medical supplies and equipment in its warehouses.
The Department of Health on Tuesday reported 45 new confirmed cases of coronavirus, bringing the total number of cases in the country to 187.
In its 4 p.m. medical bulletin, the DOH also reported another Filipino who recovered from Covid-19, bringing the total number to four. (PNA)