‘UNITY AMID OUTREAK’: Fraternities hold blood donation drive

By: Emme Rose Santiagudo

AS DENGUE cases in Western Visayas continue to rise, various sectors in the community are uniting to help ease the epidemic.

For one, the United Fraternities and Sororities of Panay composed of several fraternities and sororities vowed to support the city government’s advocacy against dengue by conducting a bloodletting activity on August 4, 2019.

The bloodletting activity dubbed as “Dugo Para sa Banwa Ko” will be participated by Alpha Kappa Rho, AKD, Tau Gamma Phi, Sigma Rho, Alpha Phi Omega, Gamma Phi Omicron, and Scouts Royale Brotherhood and Sisterhood Inc.

Roger Caballero of AKD said they joined the effort to help the community stave off the dengue epidemic.

“The moment we were informed about this, no hesitation at all. We have a dengue problem right now, and this is the only way that we can help as well through our service,” Caballero said in a press conference on Thursday.

According to Councilor Alan Zaldivar, chairman of the Committee on Health of Sangguniang Panlungsod, the activity is in partnership with the City Government and the Philippine Red Cross (PRC).

Zaldivar said they are eyeing 100 qualified blood donors.

“We partnered with PRC and Gaisano also provided us with a venue for free. Hopefully, we can target 100 qualified blood donors and we already sent out guidelines to our partners so that they can prepare for the bloodletting activity,” Zaldivar said.

Meanwhile, Ian Ferdinand Rico of Tau Gamma Phi said the blood donation drive will not only cater to the members of the participating fraternities and sororities but also to the public.

Rico said that another blood donation drive will be conducted on August 14, 2019 as part of Iloilo City’s Charter Day celebration.

“We have come up with this to help Iloilo City in its fight against dengue. Nag-ugyon gid ang mga fraternities and sororities. This does not stop here. We have also future plans of doing other forms of community service,” he noted.

Iloilo City has already been placed under a state of calamity due to dengue since last week.

From January 1 until July 27, 2019, the city has recorded 1,391 dengue cases with 10 deaths, according to the City Health Office (CHO).