Dick makes things easy

With the whole world waging a war against the COVID-19 pandemic, the Philippines is very fortunate to have the Philippine Red Cross, headed by Senator Richard “Dick” Gordon as chair and CEO, on the forefront of the country’s fight against the disease.

Not content with just providing small bullets to help the government in preventing the spread of the disease by distributing face masks, personal protective equipment, and relief packs, among others, the PRC, through Dick’s visionary leadership, has given it the “ultimate weapon” to ensure victory.

This “ultimate weapon,” as tagged by Interior and Local Government Secretary Eduardo Ano is no other than the state-of-the-art COVID testing centers that the PRC opened to ensure that infected people are identified through testing so they can be quarantined and treated and contact traced, thereby stemming the spread of the disease. As Dick said, “The more people are tested, the better chances we have of ensuring victory over COVID.”

It is no wonder that even his colleagues in the Senate have been full of praises for Dick’s leadership in the Red Cross, which is now doing almost half of the tests in the country.

“Senator Gordon is trying to ramp up almost all regions as well as city centers and they’ve done it in such a short time. More than anything, you provided the inspiration, blood, sweat and tears to make it happen,” said Senate Majority Floor Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri, who is also the PRC’s vice chairman.

“Ipinakita ni Sen. Gordon na kung gusto, kaya at kung may determinasyon,  kaya po.” So, congratulations Senator Gordon. I’m also a Red Cross governor so I am very proud that Red Cross is leading the way in making sure that we have ample testing for our people,” Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian said, for his part.

“I also want to congratulate Sen. Dick Gordon. I was really monitoring the progress or the lack of progress of our testing facilities and I was so excited when I saw what he is doing. He made what seemed impossible, possible. So thank you,” Senator Pia Cayetano also said.

And Dick, being the hands-on leader, really works hard day and night just to ensure that everything is in running order -- asking for updates on the progress of tests round the clock to ensure that nothing has gone awry and giving regular motivational talks to the medical technologists, encoders and the staff and volunteers.

When the PRC was deluged by the test kits of thousands of overseas Filipino workers who were swabbed by the Philippine Coast Guard, and it was criticized for the delay in the release of results as well as from several local government units in Metro Manila, Dick did not try to exonerate himself and the Red Cross by heaping the blame on the PCG and the LGUs for the cause of the delay, which was caused mostly by erroneously filled up case investigation forms, wrong assignment of barcodes, or specimens belatedly brought to the Red Cross.

Instead, what Dick, one who would rather fix the problem rather than fix the blame, did was to tap the expertise of young experts, like Bryan Giger and his group at Dashboard Philippines, to collaborate with another IT expert, Joy Dasal, and installed a system that ensured that there would no longer be any mix-up in collecting the personal data needed. It also ensured that the whole testing process is computerized from start to finish.

Recently, some groups, who may think they have an axe to grind with the good senator, have been trying to demonize his image by implicating that he is getting kickbacks from the testing fees that the Red Cross charges and the procurement of the equipment for the molecular laboratories that are already operational and those that are soon to open.

Well, compared to what private hospitals and other private testing centers are charging, the fees charged by the Red Cross are way below what the others are charging. The fee is P3,500 if the swabbing will not be done by Red Cross med techs, but those who will be swabbed by the med techs at the Red Cross would have to shell out an additional P500.

For those who say this is too much, think about the operational costs. While the Red Cross may have a lot of volunteers, the med techs cannot be expected to risk their lives for nothing, they have to be paid, and due to the lack of public transport, they also have to be given accommodations and ferried to and from the Red Cross testing centers. They should be provided with PPEs too to ensure their protection while at work. Since the machines, which are working round the clock, run on electricity, the Red Cross also have to contend with cosmic Meralco bills.  

Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon put it aptly when, noting the lower cost of Red Cross COVID test compared to what hospitals are charging, he said during a Senate hearing “the Red Cross is contributing its share to nation-building.”

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I just had a telephone conversation with a friend who had just arrived in Gingoog – after three months of being locked down in a city in West Australia.  She left Manila for Melbourne on March 9 and expected to return to the Philippines end of May.

She came home June 7 — after a series of air flight cancellations. “I had to be alert, watching all notices online.” Although she had paid for round trip tickets  for herself, a daughter and an apo  several times, she had to content herself with several cancellations.  (PAL was not operating, nor was Cebu Pacific). She and her daughter (age 21) and granddaughter (age 7) were able to get on a Repatriation Flight via Air Asia.  She was lucky to get on the second flight to Manila; there were so many passengers scrambling for seats, but only 100 could be accommodated. “We were the only three allowed to sit together. As there were only 100 passengers on the flight, all the others sat alone in the three seaters.  Even husbands and wives sat away from one another.”

They arrived at the Manila International Airport at 6 in the morning. Coast guard personnel took their swabs, which were taken to the Philippine Red Cross for evaluation. They left for E- Makati after 5 p.m. Being a professional, she had made a booking for the hotel even while she was in Australia.  They stayed in the hotel for 14 days of quarantine, and, upon receipt of the notice (obtained by Facebook) that they were negative for the virus, they took the plane home, glad to be in Gingoog where my friend’s husband waited with open arms.

In Melbourne my friend stayed in the house of her daughter and son-in-law (both registered nurses) and their nine-year-old daughter. Had there been  no corona pandemic, and the very strict preventive measures imposed by the authorities,  my friend would have enjoyed her vacation leave – going to resorts, the movies, shopping and dining and picnicking. For sure her hosts enjoyed her presence, as she did the cooking -- would you believe, she roasted duck, turkey and lamb, and cooked yummy Filipino dishes. Plus, she set house rules for the two kids: breakfast, then reading and spelling and story telling then snacks in the morning, and lessons from You Tube, then free time in the afternoon for fun and games inside the yard. Another accomplishment was her watching three Korean novellas and movies on Netflix – pastimes she has no time for back home.

“Ang  laki laki ng gastos ko,” she said, but not saying how much, only more than double her budget for the intended vacation. The  thing is – she and her two companions are on quarantine in Gingoog for 14 days, staying in a son’s bedroom and trying to enjoy just the idea of being home again –  but deciding how not to get bored.

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