BY MARTIN A. SADONGDONG
Medical frontliners in areas under the modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) can now avail themselves of transportation services from motorcycle ride-hailing firm Angkas for free, the Joint Task Force (JTF) COVID Shield announced Friday.
The JTF COVID Shield has forged an agreement with Angkas to deploy 1,000 of its riders to fetch health care workers to and from their workplaces in MECQ areas in Mega Manila – Metro Manila, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, and Rizal – starting today till the end of MECQ period on Aug. 18.
Angkas, led by its Chief Transport Advocate George Royeca, donated 1,000 motorcycle barriers to the Philippine National Police (PNP) which will be forwarded to various police stations in Metro Manila for distribution to qualified motorcycle drivers.
“This benevolent act of the Angkas Group led by Mr. George Royeca is a clear manifestation that the spirit of ‘bayanihan’ is very much alive and continues to be a defining value of Filipinos especially in this time of global pandemic,” said Police Lt. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar, commander of JTF COVID Shield, during the turnover ceremony in Camp Crame, Quezon City.
Based on the agreement, the Angkas riders will be assigned near the hospitals identified by the Department of Health as having health workers attending to COVID-19 patients – Philippine General Hospital, San Lazaro Hospital, and Ospital ng Sampaloc in Manila; the East Avenue Medical Center in Quezon City; and the Tala Hospital in Caloocan City.
Some Angkas riders will be placed on standby at the National Kidney Institute, Quezon City General Hospital, Lung Center of the Philippines, and Quirino Memorial Medical Center in Quezon City; and Ospital ng Maynila and Fabella Hospital in Manila.
“Ang na-identify nating hospitals ay Metro Manila pero puwede silang ihatid even sa labas ng Metro Manila lalo na kung ito ay under the MECQ,” Eleazar said.
Medical workers just have to approach the Angkas riders and present their identification cards in order to avail of the free rides, said Eleazar.
