Free vaccines for Makatizens and free airtime for Tarlac students

“We intend to vaccinate all Makatizens, including real property owners, business owners, and non-registered voters who reside in the city. We want them to be safe from the virus, and we’re aiming for 100 percent”.

This was declared by the energetic and no-nonsense Mayor Abby Binay in another unprecedented step of including non-residents who work and does business in her city. Today, Makati has 582,602 resident population (2019) but this balloons to a maximum of 4.2 million during daytime.

The city government — in coordination with the national COVID-19 Inter-Agency Task Force — ordered 1 million doses of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine but we understand that the 1 million doses is just the first batch. They continue to negotiate with other vaccine makers, we were told.

“We are 100 percent ready, our logistics, pre-vaccination and post-vaccination systems are in place, we are just waiting for the vaccines to arrive,” Mayor Abby declared.

This city executive is laser-focused on anti-COVID-19 measures since the start of the pandemic — from providing citizens social protection, ensuring proper implementation of health and safety measures, proper reopening of the economy and continuous digitization of the city’s platforms to keep Makatizens informed. This is exactly how leaders should be — utilizing taxpayers’ money for the benefit of taxpayers themselves. No wonder many netizens couldn’t help but wish they live in Makati.

Mayor Abby urged Makatizens to take full advantage of the city’s free vaccination with an online registration portal launching in weeks. As if all these efforts aren’t enough, she also promised to share excess vaccines to other LGUs who can’t afford to do the same to their constituents.

This city mayor deserves public admiration.

Free radio TV airtime

Tarlac First District Rep. Charlie Cojuangco is donating “free radio-television airtime” plus Facebook live streaming to DEPEd regional officials and their elementary and high school students during class hours.

Targetted are grades 4,5,8 and 9 who have higher inventories of textbooks and learning materials. This would mean huge savings in the weekly printing by DEPEd, which sometimes are shouldered by teachers themselves.

Project SHINE (School-Home Integration of RBI in the New Normal Education) dubbed as Aral TarlakHenyo will air on Cojuangco-owned Radyo Pilipino DZTC 828 AM and Radyo Pilipino TV Tarlac Channel 26 and via Facebook live streaming Mondays thru Fridays from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. starting February 1.

The idea was formalized between Rep. Cojuangco, DepEd Regional Office III Director Dr. May B Eclar, DepEd Schools Division Superintendent for Tarlac Province and Dr. Ronaldo A. Pozon.

Rep. Cojuangco said “Aral TarlakHenyo on DZTC Radio and RTV Tarlac Channel 26 is a perfect venue for Tarlac DEPEd to reach students provincewide. This will bridge the learning gap brought by the pandemic in educating our children,”.

Cojuangco’s free airtime for public students should be emulated by all broadcast owners nationwide, if they are really for nonprofit and “real public service.”