Phinma sets P25M COVID-19 relief program

Phinma CEO Ramon V. Del Rosario Jr. poses beside a portrait of his father, Ramon Sr., considered one of the fathers of Philippine industry.

Business house Phinma has mobilized at least P25 million worth of resources to support medical front-liners and aid poor households displaced by the lockdown measures against the COVID-19 pandemic.

The funds will be spent for the group’s broader response to the pandemic, dubbed “Phinma Reaches Out: Our Community Collaboration Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic” or PRO 2020.

“When we launched Phinma Reaches Out 2020, committing a significant amount across the group to do our share for the broader communities we were a part of, when this initiative prioritized our extended Phinma family members who were contractual no work/no pay support staff, when the reaching out identified frontline health professionals and workers as needing assistance, and when we chose to help feed the most vulnerable facilities, we were fanning the flames of hope. And we still are,” Phinma president and chief executive officer Ramon del Rosario Jr. said.

“And with the extension of the ECQ (enhanced community quarantine) and the glaring impact on hunger this measure is creating, we are determined to find ways and means to reach out some more,” he said.

Phinma has so far released or committed to release bulk of the fund as follows:

– P5 million to support the joint PBSP (Philippine Business for Social Progress)-Caritas-Bayanihan, Musikahan effort that will support and help the most vulnerable sectors of society and crowdfunding through Ryan Cayabyab’s Bayanihan, Musikahan, an online concert via Facebook;

– P8 million in the form of assistance to health workers at the front lines with masks, suits, food, lodging and transportation, help establish supplementary health care facilities, and/or provide food and other assistance to vulnerable groups through the Alumni Association of Xavier School, CRIBS Foundation, De La Salle Brothers, Got Heart Foundation/Katinko Group, International Association for Human Values Foundation Phils., Office of the Vice President and the Kaya Natin Movement for Good Governance and Ethical Leadership, RockEd Philippines, Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Lingayen Dagupan, Tanging Yaman Foundation and UP Medical Foundation;

– P3.75 million to fund assistance for up to 1,500 Phinma group contractual staff and workers; and,

– P7 million for communities supported by various Phinma business units, specifically to help provide food for vulnerable families and food, housing and protective equipment for health front-liners.