After several weeks of delays, the much-awaited second shipment of personal protective equipment (PPEs) from Liwayway Marketing Corporation in Shanghai arrived on April 30 and was released to Kaisa Para Sa Kaunlaran on May 9.
Kaisa extends its gratitude to Amb. Carlos Chan and Larry Chan of Liwayway Marketing Corporation (Oishi) Shanghai, who went to great lengths to procure and facilitate the shipment with the help of DTI-Foreign Trade Service Corps and Bureau of Customs.
This second tranche of PPEs include 12,000 hazmat suits, 20,000 N95 masks, 204,000 surgical masks, 20,000 surgical gloves, 2,000 goggles, 22,000 shoe covers. This is part of the total P35 million worth of PPEs purchased by Oishi Shanghai.
Aside from designated hospitals specified by Liwayway Marketing Corp. and DTI and some donated to Tzu Chi Foundation, the bulk of the PPE sets were turned over to Kaisa’s partner TOWNS Foundation (The Outstanding Women in the Nation’s Service) for distribution.
TOWNS started distributing PPEs nationwide on March 15 and has reached the southernmost hospitals in Tawi-Tawi and Jolo, northernmost in Batanes and Aparri, easternmost in Samar and westernmost in Palawan. On its 60th day of distribution, in partnership with Kaisa, TOWNS has distributed 120,000 PPE sets nationwide.
The Bahay Tsinoy lobby of the Kaisa Heritage Center has been used as procurement and distribution hub for two months, starting in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Donors like the Chans of Liwayway and many other organizations and individuals extended help in cash and in kind, which enabled Kaisa to extend help to more hospitals all over the country. Amity Foundation in Nanjing, Kaisa’s long-time partner in many of its calamity relief work, donated PPEs and surgical masks worth P1.5 million.
