Manila City Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso has announced the rollout of “Manila Vital Care Kits” to more than 100,000 residents across the capital to boost the city’s resilience in times of disaster and emergency.

Domagoso said the initiative is part of his administration’s continuing efforts to ensure every household, school, and workplace is equipped to respond to emergencies.

“We will never know when calamity will strike, but what we can do is prepare. This kit may help save lives,” the Mayor said during a Facebook Live address Monday.

The Vital Care Kit program is an expansion of the city’s previous efforts, which included the distribution of “Emergency Go Bags” to public school students and teachers in 2020. The kits will be distributed to 101,214 beneficiaries, including Senior High School and Grade 10 students, university students from Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila and Universidad de Manila, barangay officials and watchmen, city hall employees, and health center workers.

Each kit contains basic medical and emergency response tools, such as a blood pressure monitor, a glucose monitor system, an oximeter, a digital thermometer, and antiseptic wipes. It also includes SILVEX® wound gel, an advanced wound care product that acts as a protective barrier against infection.

Domagoso said these tools will help residents manage health emergencies while awaiting professional assistance.

The Manila City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office and the Health Department will oversee the systematic rollout. “What we have today, we will deploy, because we don’t know how strong or how soon the next disaster will be,” the Mayor said. “Let’s not panic, but let’s be prepared.”

Meantime, the local government has extended an apology to the administration and parishioners of the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Abandoned in Santa Ana, Manila, for the confusion caused by an erroneous social media post regarding a supposed city project at the church.

The post, titled “First 100 days recap” and published on 8 October, included the entry “Pagsasaayos ng Santa Ana Shrine.” In a statement, the local government admitted, “We acknowledge that the inclusion of the item ‘Pagsasaayos ng Santa Ana Shrine’ in the said post was error on their part.”

The church administration had earlier questioned the entry, stating the city government had not funded any ongoing projects within the church premises. They clarified that the current roofing retrofitting is funded by “generous benefactors.”

The local government’s statement clarified that the entry was an oversight by the Manila Public Information Office and was not mentioned in Domagoso’s speech, nor did he claim city funding for the church’s retrofitting.