Marcos champions PCSO’s charity work, turnovers 90 ambulance units

The provinces of Bohol, Cebu, Negros Occidental, Pangasinan, Northern Samar, and Rizal, consisting of seven cities and 83 municipalities, received 90 Patient Transport Vehicle (PTV) units from the national government.

During the turnover ceremony at Quirino Grandstand, President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. lauded the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office’s (PCSO) efforts in charity work.

Marcos expressed regret that in previous years, the work of the PCSO had focused on other activities instead of charitable work.

“When I began my term, [PCSO General Manager] Mel Robles was there, I told him when he was placed in the PCSO, my order to him was to return the PCSO to charity work,” he said.

According to Marcos, one of the initiatives of the PCSO is the Medical Transport Vehicle Donation Program (MTVDP), aimed at improving the healthcare delivery system in underserved regions.

Marcos explained that a majority of local government units across the country previously found it difficult to request ambulances for their areas, citing his own experience as governor of Ilocos Norte.

“I remembered when I was governor, you can only get an ambulance when you are relatively close to someone in position. I think it shouldn't be like that,” he said. “That's why I said as long as we can take these emergency vehicles like this and let's spread them."

He emphasized that the turnover of PTVs is not for political purposes.

“Let's not think about where the units will go or ‘Did they voted for us? or ‘Did we win there?’ No, nothing like that. Wherever there is a need, we will send [units],” he said.

The turnover of the units coincided with PCSO’s 90th anniversary.

In return, Marcos requested that beneficiaries take good care of the ambulance units they received.

“They are durable, as long as we take good care of them. The good thing about our choice of this model is that its parts are easy to replace, it's easy to fix, you can find it anywhere. Any mechanic can fix these emergency vehicles,” he noted.

He added that the national government ensured the emergency vehicles are user-friendly.

Meanwhile, Marcos also mentioned that the PCSO aims to distribute another set of units to beneficiaries who have already received PTVs.

“I hope that when this program continues, we will not only give 100 percent. The PCSO is proud that they can deliver a second batch of units,” he said.

As of 30 October, a total of 564 units have been turned over to local government beneficiaries.

For 2024, the national government has allocated P2.2 billion for the procurement of 1,000 PTV units to cover cities and municipalities nationwide.