BAGUIO CITY March 25 – The Filipino-Chinese community donated some P1.6 million worth of goods and cash to the city government to help provide the basic needs of indigent residents heavily impacted by the effects of the ongoing implementation of the Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine.
Peter Ng, president of the Baguio Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BFCCCI), said that the donation that was turned over to city officials last Monday is from pooled resources from the BFCCCI, the Association of Philippines-China Understanding (APCU), the Amity Club of Baguio, the Baguio Patriotic High School, and various individual Filipino-Chinese businessmen in the city as their contribution to the ongoing relief operations being done by concerned government agencies and the city government to ease the effects of the enhanced quarantine to the lives of the poorest of the poor families and marginalized sectors.
Ng disclosed the donation was composed of P1 million worth of goods, including some 300 sacks of rice, and some P600,000 in cash from the different organizations and individual donors.
“We want to help our less fortunate brothers and sisters cope with the difficult situation we are currently facing so we passed the hat among ourselves to raise the initial assistance we can turnover to the concerned government agencies and the city government,” Ng stressed.
He disclosed the Filipino-Chinese groups will again meet anytime to decide on the next possible wave of assistance as the enhanced community quarantine is still to end on April 15, 2020 depending on the decision of authorities.
He assured the Baguio Filipino-Chinese community is always ready to help to those in need of assistance during this trying times as part of their corporate social responsibility to extend humanitarian aid to the vulnerable and marginalized sectors of the city.
For several decades now, the Filipino-Chinese community has been a reliable partner of concerned government agencies and the city government in assisting people in need of help, especially when there are man-made and natural calamities that affect the livelihoods of the people and impact on the overall economic situation of the city.
Further, Baguio City is the first local government in the country that institutionalized the annual celebration of the Chinese Lunar New Year with the enactment of Ordinance No. 18, series of 1999 where the aforesaid celebration had been going on over two decades.
Filipino-Chinese businessman own most of the businesses operating in the different parts of the city as they were the one of the first to heavily invested in the put up of their establishments that are now doing well through the years.
By Dexter A. See
Photo in file: Then Baguio City officials headed by Mayor Mauricio Domogan and officers of the Baguio Filipino – Chinese Community in a ceremonial launching of the Chinese Garden Marker inside Botanical Garden in celebration of the Filipino – Chinese Friendship Day. Lito Dar/PIA CAR, 06/16/19