UPV community, 3 LGUs are recipients of UP Beta Sigma Covid-19 aid

• UP Beta Sigma Fraternity (UPV Chapter) has extended fuel relief and cash assistance to the UPV workers.
• Medical materials were distributed to Oton, Tigbauan, and Miag-ao LGUs; UPV Health Unit is also a recipient.
• UP Sigma Beta Sorority offered food packs to students stranded at UPV Miag-ao Campus.

The University of the Philippines-Visayas (Miag-ao Campus) and three Local Government Units in the First District of the Province of Iloilo were among the beneficiaries of UP Beta Sigma Fraternity and UP Sigma Beta Sorority’s local response for people and communities affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The service organization distributed medical materials like alcohol and medical grade surgical masks for hospitals in the First District and for the use of rural health centers in the towns of Oton, Tigbauan, and Miag-ao.

The health unit of UPV Miag-ao Campus also received Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) and workers and stranded students likewise received aid.

The service fraternity has distributed a total of 100 liters of alcohol, 1,000 pieces of medical grade surgical masks, and 20 essential PPEs.

The turn-over of the materials to LGU officials were led by UP Beta Sigma’s First District residents Mark Aaron Tinambunan and Mon Francis Sorongon.

On the other hand, both the fraternity and the sorority have joined hands for a food drive to cover the meals of the students who were stranded at the Miag-ao Campus after the entire province was placed under an Extended Community Quarantine (ECQ) early March.

They distributed 12 sets of healthy set of meals and they intend to sustain the effort down to the remaining weeks of the ECQ.

UPV workers also received aid and cash assistance from the fraternity. It distributed fuel relief aid to university frontline workers and a P120.00 cash assistance to around 40 workers who are handling the operations of the different units of the university in spite of the ECQ.

Fuel relief aid, in particular, will be continued with donations from members and alumni, said the UP Beta Sigma.

UPV’s Balay Kanlaon Divina Punongbayan (Dormitory Head) and Lara Shane Alcantara (representative) receives one gallon of alcohol from members of UP Beta Sigma Fraternity.

In addition, the fraternity is now preparing to provide water and snacks to UPV students who are expected to be ferried home by the university in the coming weeks as the province of Iloilo approaches the lifting of the ECQ.

“The increased relief effort of our fraternity is our response on the pressing need of the people in southern Iloilo during this crucial time of the pandemic,” said lawyer Doni June Almio who is also an alumni.

“Helping our fellow Filipino, especially UPV students, is one of our sworn duty as responsible members of a larger community,” added Almio, who supervises UP Beta Sigma’s relief effort in Iloilo.

The relief and aid that the fraternity organized was attained with contributions from its members and alumni. Both the UP Beta Sigma Fraternity and the UP Sigma Beta Sorority reassured continued support on the communities that they have dedicated to serve during the period of the pandemic.

The UP Beta Sigma Fraternity was founded in 1946 and it is one of the oldest fraternities in the Philippines with tens of thousands of members all over the archipelago and abroad. Its UPV chapter is one of the leading service organizations in the campus. (Report by Jay M. Pascual, UP Beta Sigma Fraternity, UP Visayas Chapter Alumnus)