Manila’s popular event centers – the Rizal Memorial Coliseum, Philippine International Convention Center (PICC), and World Trade Center (WTC) have been converted into Emergency Quarantine Facilities (EQF) for COVID-19 patients with the help of the members of the Philippine Constructors Association (PCA).
The private contractors worked with the Philippine government to convert the sports coliseum and convention centers into EQFs for the treatment and monitoring of COVID-19 cases.
The converted quarantine facilities where 24/7 medical care will be given are designed to make patients comfortable while ensuring the protection of the medical staff and other front liners according to standards set by the Department of Health (DOH).
Each facility has air-conditioned cubicles, free access to the internet connection, electrical outlets, food and water stations, and toilets, and showers.
The EQFs were made operational in mid-April 2020 in time for the start of mass testing in the Philippines and the anticipated influx of COVID-19 cases who are asymptomatic and those displaying mild symptoms.
WTC
The World Trade Center (WTC) EQF with 502 beds was constructed by the Makati Development Corporation and other companies under the Ayala Group.
PICC
The Philippine International Convention Center Forum Halls EQF with a 294-bed capacity was constructed by the EEI Corporation of the Yuchengco Group of Companies in collaboration with Vista Land under the Villar Group of Companies.
RIZAL MEMORIAL COLISEUM
The Rizal Memorial Coliseum EQF with a 112-bed capacity was constructed by Prime Metro BMD and the Bloomberry Cultural Foundation Inc. under the Razon Group of Companies led by International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) chairman and president Enrique Razon Jr.
Other PCA members’ efforts to assist in constructing facilities during the public health crisis include property company Ayala Land Inc. which is also converting part of the Philippine Red Cross headquarters in Mandaluyong City into a testing facility that can process almost 3,000 COVID-19 tests per day with results that can be released in as fast as two hours.
PCA also pooled resources from the association, its regular and associate members as well as affiliate organizations to assist EEI Corporation in fast-tracking the installation and deployment of 60 emergency medical facilities or “smarthouses” that will be utilized by eight hospitals in San Juan, Mandaluyong, Manila, Quezon City, Antipolo, Santa Rosa in Laguna province and Batac in Ilocos Norte.
According to the PCA’s executive director Barry Paulino, their member-companies are one with the Philippine government in the fight against the pandemic. “As a nation builder, PCA is committed to working with the government in its COVID-19 response. Bayanihan (community spirit of cooperation) is a Filipino concept that we truly own and it now leads all of us to do our best in this great fight,” Paulino said.
Guiding the efforts for the conversion of the establishments into “instant hospitals” is the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) under Secretary Mark Villar, with other private companies collaborating in the project such as Filinvest and Capital Corporation of the Philippines, Aboitiz Corp., Lina Group of Companies, PLDT and Smart, DM Consunji, Concepcion Industrial Corp. Boysen Philippines also partnered with the government to make the facilities color-coded for enhanced protection of frontline workers. DM Consunji and Boysen Philippines are members of PCA.
Another PCA member, DATEM Construction, also put up the EQFs at the National Kidney Institute and the Philippine Army General Hospital. It is now working on a similar facility at the Ospital ng Makati. Will Decena and Associates also installed the EQF at the Mandaluyong Medical Center and the Lung Center of the Philippines.
Philippine companies have been taking various initiatives to help in relief efforts during the COVID-19 public health crisis that placed the entire Luzon island under community quarantine until May 15, 2020.
Manila Water is supplying water to the World Trade Center EQF.
Oplan Ugnayan business led by Jaime Zobel de Ayala provided 1 billion worth of grocery vouchers that were distributed by Caritas Manila to the poor of Metro Manila and surrounding provinces under lockdown.
BPI, San Miguel Corporation, Lucio Tan Group, Gokongwei Group, Ayala Corporation, and the SM Group helped in various relief efforts for both their employees and the poor while Globe has provided phones and connectivity to frontliners.
SEND CHEERS in the comments below to private contractors of the PCA for helping prepare the country with EQFs at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum, PICC, and WTC.
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