GORDON WELCOMES CHINESE EMBASSY'S DONATION FOR COVID FOOD RELIEF PACKS FOR THE NCR

With a number of Metro Manila's residents reeling from the economic impact of the two-month long quarantine due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Senator Richard J. Gordon, chairman and CEO of the Philippine Red Cross, welcomed the Chinese Embassy in Manila's donation for food relief packs to be distributed in the National Capital Region.

Gordon accepted the donation for at least 3,500 relief packs that was handed over by Chinese Ambassador Huang Xillian in a turn-over ceremony held at the PRC's national headquarters on Friday.

The turn-over was also witnessed by the chapter administrators of the different PRC chapters in the NCR, where the highest number of COVID cases had been recorded.

"We welcome this donation which would really help the most vulnerable families in Metro Manila who were badly hit by the economic consequences of this pandemic," the PRC chairman said.

Gordon also thanked the Chinese envoy for providing him with necessary information last April, when the PRC was in the process of building up its first COVID testing center or bio-molecular laboratory.

"We thank you for your help, having directed us to the right people. I remember I wrote you a letter and called you-Then we were able to connect with Sansure Biotech, Inc. Our bio-molecular laboratories gave our country a better weapon for our battle against COVID-. It's important that we both feel that we are there for each other," he said.

The Chinese Embassy has been a long-time partner of the Philippine Red Cross in its humanitarian operations, having donated almost P24-million, in cash and in kind, for different disasters that hit the country in the past seven years alone.

The calamities include Typhoon Yolanda in 2013; Lawin in 2016; Urduja in 2017; and the earthquake in Surigao, also in 2017.