A month after his visit to General Santos City to see the COVID-19 “Bakuna Bus” operations, the vice president of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Gilles Carbonnier sent his commendations to the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) and its chairman and CEO Dick Gordon for the foremost organization’s innovative crisis response and community-level services.
“The innovations you have spearheaded at the Philippine Red Cross’s headquarters and in your response capacity are remarkable. The visit to General Santos City allowed me to see for myself how a local chapter delivered services in its community. Your staff and volunteers’ tireless work are commendable,” Carbonnier said in his letter to Gordon.
“Our mantra of ‘Volunteers + Logistics + Information Technology = A Red Cross that is Always First, Always Ready, and Always There’ serves as a guide for us as we continue to serve humanity,” Gordon responded.
“We shall keep strengthening the localization of our humanitarian responses to provide more efficient services to our most vulnerable people.”
“We shall keep strengthening the localization of our humanitarian responses to provide more efficient services to our most vulnerable people,” he added.
Carbonnier further cited that the PRC and ICRC showed the importance of continually adapting to the ever-changing landscape of humanitarian action.
“We shall continue to work well together to deliver on our humanitarian mission in the Philippines.”
“At the ICRC, we are delighted to enjoy such a fruitful partnership with your National Society [PRC]. I am sure, as I emphasized during my visit, that we shall continue to work well together to deliver on our humanitarian mission in the Philippines,” he added.
As of October 2022, the PRC’s Bakuna Buses and Bakuna Centers with Bakuna Teams, in partnership with ICRC, have administered a total of 325, 066 vaccines — 76, 876 individuals fully vaccinated and 51,238 persons boosted — in the region of Mindanao.
