With the Covid-19 pandemic still ongoing, Senator Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go is continuing his advocacy to extend needed assistance to struggling sectors trying to overcome the challenges caused by the pandemic.
The lawmaker recently visited Guimbal, Iloilo and provided aid to at least 1,448 identified beneficiaries. He was joined by Senator Robinhood Padilla.
The distribution activity was held at the Guimbal Municipal Gymnasium where they also handed out grocery packs, masks, vitamins, meals and shirts to the. In addition, they gave away bicycles, phablets, shoes, watches, and balls for volleyball and basketball to select individuals.
To help the residents kickstart their livelihood, representatives from Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) extended assistance through its Sustainable Livelihood Program.
Go also pushed for the provision of interventions for livelihood support to qualified beneficiaries composed of vendors, agricultural workers and micro entrepreneurs.
As chair of the Senate Committee on Health and Demography, Go then reminded the beneficiaries to look after their health as he urged them to visit any of the four Malasakit Centers in the province located at Don Jose S. Monfort Medical Center Extension Hospital in Barotac Nuevo, Western Visayas Sanitarium in Santa Barbara, and Western Visayas Medical Center and West Visayas State University Medical Center, both in Iloilo City, should they need medical assistance from the government.
The Malasakit Centers Act, principally authored and sponsored by Go, mandates the establishment of Malasakit Centers in all Department of Health-run hospitals and the Philippine General Hospital to ensure that particularly poor and indigent patients can conveniently get medical assistance from existing programs of the Department of Health, DSWD, Philippine Health Insurance Corporation, and Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office.
Meanwhile, Go likewise renewed his appeal to all unvaccinated yet eligible public to get their complete jabs against Covid-19, underscoring the crucial role of vaccines to the country’s economic recovery.
Acknowledging how the ongoing pandemic and other crises adversely affected the economy, Go has pushed for several measures intended to help micro, small and medium scale enterprises.
At the height of the pandemic, he had successfully pushed for the implementation of the Small Business Wage Subsidy program. The said program provided eligible workers who were unable to work or get paid during the enhanced community quarantine period with two tranches of financial assistance.