The city government of Manila on Tuesday received free 1,125,000 washable face masks through the presidential initiative “Libreng Mask para sa Masa”.

Officials of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), and the Presidential Management Staff (PMS) of the Office of the President turned over the face masks to Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso at the Manila City Hall.

“(This is to) provide face masks to poor families to strengthen the government’s strategic plan to mitigate the spread of Covid-19 infections by enabling and encouraging the public to follow the minimum public health standards and also to support the micro, small, and medium enterprises whose operations were disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic,” DSWD Undersecretary Rene Glen Paje said.

The Face Mask Distribution Project is spearheaded by the National Task Force Against Covid-19, the Department of Health (DOH), DTI, Procurement Service of Department of Budget and Management (DBM), the DSWD, the Office of Civil Defense (OCD), Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), and the Department of Science and Technology-Philippine Textile Research Institute (DOST-PTRI).

“Maraming salamat sa PMS, sa lahat ng bumubuo ng PMS at sa other agencies like DTI, DSWD tsaka yung iba pang mga sub-agencies (Thank you so much to the PMS and to the other government agencies like DTI, DSWD including the other sub-agencies), we are very grateful,” Domagoso said.

Just like the Manila city government’s own free facemask project, he said the “Libreng Mask para sa Masa” provided livelihood to those heavily affected by the lockdowns to contain the Covid-19 pandemic.

Also present during the turnover ceremony were DTI Assistant Secretary Dominic Tolentino Jr., Assistant Secretary Demphna Du-Naga, Director Lilian Salonga, Presidential Communications Operations Office Undersecretary George Apacible and Director Ma. Florinda Princess Duque, DSWD National Capital Region Director Vicente Gregorio Tomas, PMS NCR Team leader Jocelyn Villegas, Kristine Tolentino and Cedric Raguindin, and Philippine Navy’s Joint Task Force NCR area commander, Lt. Col. Noel Bermeo.

Aside from Manila, the cities of Pateros, San Juan, Navotas, Marikina, Mandaluyong, Marikina, Pasay, and Makati have already received their free face masks. (PNA)