Employees of the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (PENRO) have pooled their financial resources and efforts to help frontliners battling the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in Ilocos Sur.
“These gestures were made primarily for all the men and women on the frontlines of fighting COVID-19. We thank them for their courage and their selflessness for keeping us out of harm, enabling us to continue working and being with our loved ones,” PENRO Officer Rosemarie Jornacion was quoted in a report.
PENRO Ilocos Sur also governs two Community Environment and Natural Resources Offices (CENROs) – CENRO Northern Ilocos Sur located in Bantay town for the first district and CENRO Southern Ilocos Sur in the municipality of Tagudin for the second district.
Jornacion said the employees’ total cash donations were Php 79,810, which were used for the procurement of food packs, hygiene kits and facemasks given to the medical and barangay frontliners in the area of responsibility of the two CENROs.
Some employees also provided financial assistance to different campaigns of churches and organizations like kutseros in Vigan City, and hospitals and schools where food packs, hygiene kits, and face shields were bought and distributed to them amounting to Php 20,000.
“Some employees also chose to help their neighbors by distributing food packs composed of rice, meat, Vigan delicacies like longanisa and bagnet amounting to Php 62,500,” she said.
Employees was also able to raise cash assistance worth Php 76,000 from their salaries, which were given to hospitals such as the Ilocos Sur District Hospital-Magsingal, Ilocos Sur Provincial Hospital-Gabriela Silang in Vigan City, and Ilocos Sur District Hospital-Tagudin. Garbage collectors in the municipalities of Bantay and Tagudin, as well as security guards and utility workers also received cash assistance.
Aside from cash assistance, PENRO personnel also donated blood to hospitals and to the Philippine Red Cross-Ilocos Sur Chapter while forest rangers and technicians helped man the checkpoint areas.
