MANILA -- Government employees from various offices pooled over a hundred bags of blood in a bloodletting activity hosted by the Pag-IBIG Fund on Friday.
Pag-IBIG Fund Vice President Kalin Franco-Garcia told the Philippine News Agency (PNA) the initiative was a first in the institution.
"This is a corporate social responsibilty event for Pag-IBIG. Why blood? We thought of its connection to Pag-IBIG Fund because when you talk about pag-ibig, you talk about love, when you talk about love you think about heart, if you think about heart, blood is included, so it's connected," she said.
Having more than a hundred individuals register for the drive is already a success since a single donor can provide one bag of blood if he/she passed the screening tests, Garcia said.
"We are targeting 500 donors, as of this morning we have about 300 plus confirmed but more unregistered volunteers are coming," she said.
Of the 500, at least 226 are from Pag-IBIG Fund and the rest from the Department of Agrarian Reform, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, and other employees from local government units.
"If you look at the hospitals, the cost of one bag of blood is PHP8,000."
Officials present at the event were Pag-IBIG board of trustees Chairman Eduardo del Rosario of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council, Chief Executive Officer Acmad Rizaldy Moti and Ma. Lorelei Fajardo.
Joining them was Social Welfare Undersecretary Isko Moreno, who also relayed Special Assistant to the President Christopher Lawrence Go's regrets for not being able to attend the event.
Go and Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque were invited to the program but had prior commitments ahead of the chief executive's State of the Nation Address on Monday.
The initiative was in partnership with Dugong Alay, Dugtong Buhay Inc., a non-profit group who gives the collected blood to anyone in need for free.
Three partner-hospital "beneficiaries" will receive the donation for storage, namely St. Lukes Medical Center, Veterans Memorial Medical Center, and Manila East Medical Center. (PNA)
