SA kabila ng patuloy na banta ng coronavirus disease 2019 ay nagbahay-bahay ang grupo ng mga pari at namahagi ng tulong sa pamilyang mahihirap sa bansa.

Umabot na sa 7.6 milyon ang naging benepisyaryo o naayudahang mahihirap na pamilya ng ‘Project Ugnayan,’ isang inisyatibong ‘fund-raising’ na itinatag ng mga kilalang business groups sa kooperasyon ng Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation (PDRF) upang makatulong sa gobyerno sa COVID-19 crisis sa bansa.

“As we close, we wish to reiterate our wholehearted thanks to all our generous Donors for making this project possible. By coming together in a Bayanihan spirit so quickly, we were able to create a program of this scale and importance.

This unprecedented assembly of so many of the country’s corporations and business families coming to the assistance of the most vulnerable in our society illustrates and speaks of the heart and generosity of the business community,” ayon kay PDRF co-chairman Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala.

‘Our special thanks go to the 10 Bishops of the Dioceses in Metro Manila, Rizal, Bulacan, Cavite, and Laguna, as well as to Caritas Manila under the leadership of Father Anton Pascual, and the network of Parish Priests, Volunteers, and Barangay Captains who distributed the gift certificates door-to-door in the lowest-income communities of Greater Metro Manila.

We appreciate the swiftness and efficiency of their work under very difficult conditions and over very long hours each day,” ayon naman kay Project Ugnayan Lead, Fernando Zobel de Ayala.

“We are grateful for this opportunity to be part of this business community effort to help people in a time of crisis.

This is a movement we should nurture as we prepare to let people return to work and to re-start our economy in the post- quarantine period.” patuloy ni Zobel de Ayala.

“The unity in diversity demonstrated by Project Ugnayan reveals the private sector’s serious commitment to help our country recover from the lost economic momentum cause of the pandemic.

We are proud to be part of this extraordinary collaboration of industries which will prove most valuable in getting the economy back on track,” sinabi naman ni PDRF co-chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan.

Ayon naman kay Father Anton CT Pascual, executive director ng Caritas Manila, ang ginawang inisyatibo ng grupo upang makatulong sa mahihirap na pamilya ay umani ng papuri at lubos na pasasalamat mula kina Manila Apostolic Administrator Bishop Broderick Pabillo, San Pablo Bishop Buenaventura Famadico at iba pang ‘Prelates’ ng Suffragan Dioceses ng Manila.

“The true spirit of Easter is about hope and has special significance in these difficult times.

We thank all the generous benefactors of Project Ugnayan for this opportunity to fulfill a great mission of compassion for our vulnerable brothers and sisters. Your gifts have warmed their hearts and uplifted their spirits,” giit ni Father Pascual.

“Caritas Manila’s Project Damayan, the project’s main distributor of emergency cash through P1,000 supermarket gift certificates has so far reached 1,070,854 families or 5,354,270 people. It is on target to deliver gift certificates to 1,366,495 families or 6,832,475 people by Wednesday, April 15 (the original end-date of the Enhanced Community Quarantine),” pahayag pa ni Fr. Pascual. TJ DELOS REYES