The FMA Covid-19 Relief

Covid-19 Relief Operations: Signs of the Abiding Love of God for His Suffering People

To limit the spread of Covid-19 in the Philippines, lockdowns or stayat-home orders, officially called community quarantines by the government, of varying strictness, are imposed in the country. In the order from the strictest to the least strict, the community quarantine categories are the following: 1) enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) or total lockdown, 2) modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ), 3) general community quarantine (GCQ), and 4) modified general community quarantine (MGCQ), the least strict.

Metro Manila was placed under total lockdown due to Covid-19 on March 15, 2020, the first in the country to experience the community quarantine. The largest of these lockdowns was the ECQ in Luzon from March 17 until April 30, 2020. There are 11 FMA communities in Luzon. One or two weeks later, several provinces in the Visayas and Mindanao also imposed the ECQ that meant that by that time, all 17 FMA communities in the Philippines were under strict community quarantines. Gradually, many provinces transitioned to the less strict community quarantines, but the last to experience this easing of lockdowns was Metro Manila, where there are five FMA communities. Metro Manila was under ECQ, the strictest of the quarantines, from March 15 until May 15, 2020, under general community quarantine (GCQ) since June 2020, and remains in the same status in February 2021.

At the beginning of the total lockdown in March, we were all taken by surprise. We were apprehensive, and we tried to figure out what was happening in the world. There were limited ways for us to coordinate with our educating communities. Mostly, we got in touch via social media. Each Sister shared words of encouragement and assurance of prayers with their students, friends, families, and past pupils to make them feel our deep solidarity with them. They were grateful for being remembered during these critical times.

We began the special prayers to stop the spread of Covid-19: Eucharistic adorations, the Oratio Imperata by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, devotions to Mary Help of Christians, and others.

The Covid-19 pandemic has created a time of uncertainty, fear, hunger, illness, and death, but we are also witnessing a remarkable rise in charitable acts and volunteerism in the whole world. Our faith teaches us that there is light in the darkness, and this light can be you and me as we respond in unique ways with love, compassion, and new means of building communities of faith, hope, and love.

We respond to this pandemic as witnesses and bearers of the Lord’s compassion. We are collaborating with the Educating Communities, the Laura Vicuña Foundation, the VIDES Volunteers, our past pupils, church workers of parishes, local government units, charitable organizations, and private individuals who share our passion for helping people in need.

The earliest solidarity response of the FMA was the donation of thousands of N95 face masks to the Office of the Vice President of the Philippines on March 24, 2020, heeding the emergency call to protect the medical frontliners in a time of shortage of supply of the personal protective equipment (PPE). The donated face masks were the remaining thousands of N95 face masks after our Taal Volcano relief operations from January to March 2020.

The year 2020 was a year of intense solidarity with the poor and the needy. We conducted the Taal Volcano relief operations from January to March, the Covid-19 relief operations from March to November, and the typhoon/flood relief operations from November 2020 to January 2021.

Below is a summary of the FMA Covid-19 relief operations, made possible thanks to our generous donors: the FMA Educating Communities, Don Bosco Mondo Germany, CHARIS Singapore, ACTS Singapore, Caritas – Manila, and the families and friends of the Sisters. The Sisters have also contributed financially to the relief fund from the savings they have made from their Lenten practices and the further simplification of meals and other needs.

MARCH to MAY 2020 Relief Operations from local donations

• Donation of 3,500 pieces of N95 face masks to the Office of the Vice President of the Philippines relief operation; hospitals in Manila, Calamba, and Cebu; and security frontliners • Production of 1,800 face masks (home-made washable cloth) in Cebu and Mindoro to be given free to frontliners and poor people • Donation of 50 reusable PPEs (personal protective equipment) for a hospital in Manila • Donation of 40 improvised face shields for a hospital in Calamba • Distribution of 8,000 family food packs containing several kilos of rice, canned goods, noodles, etc. for poor families in Pampanga, Metro Manila, Laguna, Mindoro, Palawan, Cebu, and Negros Occidental • Distributionof230vouchersat P1k each (to buy basic commodities like food, toiletries, and medicines) for poor people in Sta. Mesa, Manila • Distribution of 110 kilos of assorted vegetables harvested from the Sisters’ farm for poor people in Puerto Princesa, Palawan • Preparation and distribution of 1,500 packed meals for medical frontliners in Calamba, Mindoro, and Quezon City; security frontliners in Manila, Mindoro, and Palawan • Cash donations from the FMA and the FMA Past Pupils Federation given to the Office of the Vice President – Relief Operation; Caritas – Manila; and the Association of Major Religious Superiors of the Philippines (AMRSP) • Financial assistance to our employees in the different FMA communities

MAY to JUNE 2020 Relief Operations funded by CHARIS – Singapore (Caritas Humanitarian Aid and Relief Initiatives)

• 1,500 food packs were given to 1,500 families in Metro Manila, Laguna, Pampanga, Mindoro, Palawan, Negros Occidental, and Cebu. Each food pack contains 10 kilos of rice and some canned goods and noodles.