In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the PLDT Group has stepped up its efforts to keep its customers connected and to provide communications support for the country’s frontliners in the fight against COVID-19 — the doctors and health workers at hospital and clinics, police and military personnel at checkpoints and government employees distributing aid to communities.
Joining hands with kindred companies such as Metro Pacific Investments Corporation (MPIC) and Meralco, PLDT and Smart have also given humanitarian assistance to health workers and affected communities in various parts of the country.
“Connectivity is a powerful weapon in the fight against the pandemic. Our first task is to keep our customers connected. That way, they can stay at home and still do their work, study, keep in touch with their family and friends, and stay informed on how to best protect themselves and their families. If people stay home and stay safe, they can help keep the virus from spreading far and wide,” said PLDT Chairman and CEO Manuel V. Pangilinan.
“At the same time, we are equipping frontline agencies and their personnel with fast, reliable and innovative communications and digital services. That helps them to be quicker, more efficient and effective in taking the actions needed to fight the pandemic. It also helps keep them safe and healthy. That is how we at PLDT and Smart can best help our country during this unprecedented health emergency,” he added.
Keeping Filipinos connected
The immediate response of PLDT and Smart to the government’s decision to impose the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in Luzon on March 16, 2020 was to level up internet services for their customers.
PLDT Home gave its Fibr subscribers a speed boost that raised the minimum data speed to 25 Mpbs until May 30, 2020. This applied to customers in Metro Manila and surrounding provinces such as Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna and Rizal.
Smart Communications doubled the data allocation for its postpaid subscribers and enhanced its data packages for prepaid customers. Alongside this, it provided free mobile data access to various government websites starting with that of the Department of Health (DOH) so that its customers could get the latest official information about the COVID-19 pandemic.
Moreover, Smart is reallocating its assigned 1800 MHz frequencies from 2G to 4G/LTE. This shift will impact on a large share of Smart’s LTE sites throughout the country and will increase the volume of data traffic that these facilities can handle. This reallocation program began in the Visayas region on April 12 and will continue across the country over the next two weeks.
PLDT and Smart also provided the Department of Education (DepEd) with a package of digital services to help support the academic sector offer continuous learning amid the challenges of the nationwide enhanced community quarantine.
PLDT, Smart, Sun and TNT users can also make calls without being charged to the 1555 COVID-19 Hotline, the 911 Emergency Hotline and 8888 Citizens’ Complaint Center. Subscribers can also access for free the websites of news organizations like News5, One News, BusinessWorld, Philippine Star, ABS-CBN News, GMA News and CNN Philippines until April 14, 2020.
To lighten the financial burden of their customers during these difficult times, PLDT and Smart stretched out the payment of monthly bills for postpaid services by 30 days. When the government extended the ECQ in Luzon up to end-April, monthly bills payment was pushed back to April 30, 2020. Moreover, PLDT and Smart has put in place a bills payment program under which their customers with postpaid subscriptions for fixed line and mobile services can pay for their outstanding bills as of April 30, 2020 in six, equal monthly installments.
To keep its network services running despite the COVID pandemic, both companies have implemented extraordinary measures. They placed key network facilities in Metro Manila under total lockdown, severely limiting entry to these locations and keeping personnel assigned there on-site for the duration of community quarantine restrictions.
Movements of maintenance and installation teams have been carefully controlled and field personnel given protective gear for their safety as well for our customers’. Similar care has been taken for our field sales personnel and the people of distributors’ networks who handle the sale of eLoad for mobile phones.
Equip frontliners
Through its enterprise unit, PLDT provided a number of tablet devices and cloud push-to-talk service units, which will help ease and centralize inter-branch communication among frontline health workers at designated DOH COVID-19 hospitals. PLDT Enterprise also provided Smart Messaging Suite accounts to identified healthcare centers.
PLDT Enterprise has also tied up with the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Inter-agency Task Force (IATF) to enable the RapidPass QR Project. RapidPass.ph is a website through which frontliners, who need to travel to/fro and within Metro Manila, can register and be given authorization to go through quarantine checkpoints. As proof of authorization, these frontliners are given a QR code that can be saved on a smartphone or printed on paper and displayed on a vehicle. As a result, frontliners and other people performing essential services can quickly go through checkpoints.
To support this program, PLDT and Smart provided 540 smart phones that will enable authorities to make RapidPass work in the whole of Metro Manila. The smart phones will be used by police personnel manning the quarantine checkpoints personnel to scan and verify the QR codes given frontline personnel.
Likewise, the Department of Information and Communications Technology and PLDT also joined hands with the Department of Transportation (DOTr) to allow free WiFi for healthcare workers and on-ground security personnel being ferried by government-supplied bus transports around Metro Manila. This will be done through the provisioning of Smart Bro Pocket WiFi units and Smart Tracker Units.
The mobile WiFi signal on the buses will enable the health workers to receive timely bulletins and advisories from the DOH as well as keep in touch with their families while on the move. Moreover, the Smart Tracker Units will enable DOTr to pinpoint the location of buses assigned to ferry health workers and facilitate their pass-thru approval at security checkpoints. The pocket WiFi units will also be used to provide data connectivity at key checkpoints.
Moreover, Smart is providing fast, free and 24/7 Smart WiFi to several major newly activated COVID-19 facilities. Smart has rolled out carrier-grade fiber-powered Smart WiFi to the Ninoy Aquino Stadium at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex, the Philippine International Convention Center Tent and the World Trade Center.
These large venues have been converted into COVID-19 treatment facilities that will handle patients under monitoring (PUMs) and patients under investigation (PUIs). These WiFi installations, which have a capacity of 1 Gigabyte per second, are the latest in PLDT-Smart’s ongoing efforts to provide communications support to frontline agencies and their personnel such as the departments of health, transportation, public works, the armed forces and police, local governments and non-governmental organizations in different parts of the country.
COVID-19 hotlines and Smart pocket WiFi units have also been deployed to LGUs, command centers and critical areas in NCR, Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. Beneficiaries include the DOH, DOTr and the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM).
Most recently, Smart donated SIMs and load cards to more than 1,000 AFP personnel deployed across Metro Manila, to provide for their connectivity needs during the ECQ.
In the regions
Heeding the government’s need for various technical support, PLDT has provided several government response teams with free voice and data connectivity in several critical areas and local government units. PLDT installed hotlines and free WiFi and landline services in various municipal and provincial command centers, bus terminals, police provincial offices, hotels and other areas converted for COVID-19 monitoring.
PLDT provided free WiFi Service at the SoccsksargenGeneral Hospital in Surallah, South Cotabato which is identified as a COVID-19 treatment facility.
In Quezon, PLDT’s former Infanta Cable Landing Station has been turned into a temporary quarantine area. Three existing rooms were refurbished to serve as isolation rooms. Two tents with a capacity of 10 beds each as well as three portable toilets were also installed.
Strategic offices in Lucena, Zamboanga and Davao were recipients of the free Internet connectivity and free landline calls. This includes the Disaster Risk Reduction Management Center located in Lucena City Hall; Municipal Command Center and the Provincial Information Office in Zamboanga; and the Drug Treatment and Rehabilitation Center in Malagos, Davao City.
PLDT also provided free Internet connectivity in transportation areas and health centers in General Santos City, including the Bulaong Bus Terminal and the city health center. In Davao City alone, free connectivity has been installed in four sites. This includes the Drug Treatment and Rehabilitation Center; Alternative Learning System, Camus Building; Boy Scouts of the Philippines (BSP) Camp Malagos; and La Vida, Maasin Davao City.
Furthermore, PLDT provided technical support to the Malolos Municipal Office and Old City Hall of Malolos in Bulacan. PLDT installed hotlines at the PFVR stadium and City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office in Baguio. It also provided connectivity services to the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center, the Sto. Niño Hospital and the Teacher’s Camp quarantine center.
Several critical areas in Quezon Province and Iligan City were also provided with connectivity. Some of these establishments include hotels, health offices, provincial offices, parishes, command centers and schools. In Brgy. Concepcion, San Pablo City, Laguna, a covered court turned COVID-19 center was also provided with WiFi services. PLDT also installed WiFi and free landline calls in some areas nationwide, including the Central Command Center in Batangas City.
PLDT has also provided internet connectivity to the Incident Command Center of the provincial government, as well as boosted connectivity at the Laguna Medical Center in Sta. Cruz to fast-track the processing of COVID-19 test results in the province.
PLDT, through its Enterprise business,, continues its pledge to provide free connectivity support across the country including the Visayas region. It provided free connectivity support and hotline services to various medical facilities and security checkpoints in the cities of Cebu, Iloilo, Ormoc, and Tacloban.
In Cebu City, PLDT has deployed a fiber-grade internet connection for the two sites of Bayanihan-Cebu such as in Sacred Heart School for Boys Gym and IC3 Convention Center, which currently serve as quarantine holding facilities as designated by the Department of Health (DOH) Region 7.
PLDT wireless unit Smart Communications partnered with the Integrated Bar of the Philippines Cebu Chapter to ensure that persons deprived of liberty remain connected to their loved ones who are practicing social distancing and self-quarantine due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Smart turned over six phone units with sim cards subscribed to three months worth of unlimited texts and calls to inmates of five jails in the province.
Smart also offered eLoad discounts, bonus data with Free Stories for All. Smart also offered its Smart Infocastservice — an SMS broadcast solution, to various local government units in different parts of the country. This includes cities and municipalities in Bohol, Cebu, Dumaguete, Cagayan de Oro, Surigao del Sur and Surigao del Norte.
Smart has also donated smartphones and load to support the PGH’s newly opened COVID-19 ward, as well as to the Northern Mindanao Medical Center, the designated COVID-19 hospital in Cagayan de Oro.
With these, frontliners in charge of COVID-19 patients, as well as AFP personnel manning checkpoints across Metro Manila and those stationed at their Camp Aguinaldo Headquarters can stay connected via calls, text and mobile data.
Smart has also extended communications assistance to frontliners working with the Laguna provincial government amid the province’s COVID-19 response. It turned over smartphones with SIMs and e-load to support Laguna’s security and medical frontliners’ communication needs. Fiber-powered Smart WiFi is also available at the Provincial Capitol of Laguna, and the city halls of Biñan, Cabuyao and Sta Rosa.
Malasakit
Working with various partners, PLDT and Smart have also helped provide humanitarian assistance to frontliners and affected communities.
PLDT supported the Bayanihan Musikahan where Filipino artists and performers raise funds to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. PLDT donated P1-million for this effort. To date, the Bayanihan Musikahan has raised over P45-million for the underprivileged. The campaign has already reached out to over 17,000 families, 31 urban poor communities and over 40,000 various PPE were provided to frontliners and health workers. This includes surgical masks, KN-95 masks, goggles, gloves and face shields.
Moreover, PLDT also supported the Kaagapay: Protect our Healthcare Heroes project. It is a fundraising initiative that aims to provide life-saving medical equipment which includes PPE, test kits and ventilators for the healthcare sector. This is spearheaded by the Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation, Zuellig Pharma, ABS-CBN, Metro Drug and Go Negosyo.
PLDT, in partnership with the Makati Medical Center Foundation (MMCF) donated care packages, including hygiene and food items which will be given to health care frontliners. PLDT also sponsored high-level decontamination services utilizing Steramist Asia’s Binary Ionization Technology for COVID hospitals. This includes the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine and National Kidney and Transplant Institute.
The PLDT-Smart Foundation (PSF) has partnered with PayMaya and MVP Rewards to raise funds for COVID19 frontliners. Using the online payment service, Paymaya users donated funds to the PSF. Subscribers of PLDT, Smart, Sun and TNT converted their MVP Rewards points into cash donations to the PSF.
Furthermore, PSF supported the Kapit Kapatid fundraising program of the PLDT Group through the help of PLDT and Smart Employees. PSF and Smart also launched a Text-to-Donate drive for COVID-19 frontliners that enables Smart, TNT, and Sun customers to contribute using their prepaid load or donations charged to their postpaid account. Aside from health workers and other frontliners, the target beneficiaries include communities hard-hit by the public health emergency.
Meanwhile, Smart conducted a #SmartMusicLive fundraising concert series to help the country’s frontline health workers. It also conducted a fund drive via Good Vibes Radio and staged a Mobile Legends Online Battle as a fundraiser for the PSF. Taken together, these activities harvested P5.5 million in added funds for frontliners.
Through the combined efforts of the PSF and the foundations of kindred companies such as the MPIC, frontline healthcare workers have received PPEs, grocery packs and hygiene kits. Some of the government response teams and hospitals assisted by PSF and the MMCF include the AFP, the Philippine General Hospital, Heart and Lung Center, East Avenue Medical Center and other government-designated COVID hospitals. PSF together with TV5 Alagang Kapatid Foundation have reached out to communities, daily wage workers and the homeless adversely affected by the ECQ.
Frontline health workers and government hospitals have also received 42,000 liters of 70% Ethyl alcohol donation from the Tulong Kapatid. The Tulong Kapatid is the corporate social responsibility consortium of companies, foundations and affiliates under the leadership of Manuel V. Pangilinan
The ethyl alcohol donation was from the Roxol Bioenergy Corporation, a company under the Roxas Holdings, Inc. These were transported and distributed to Metro Manila through the assistance of the Metropac Movers, Inc., PSF and the MMCF.
PayMaya, along with partner organizations, launched the #OneAgainstCOVID19 campaign. It is an initiative under the PayMaya It Forward CSR program, which is a multi-platform and cross-sectoral initiative that aims to raise funds for various organizations and causes that are helping to combat the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines. In less than a month, more than 30 non-profit organizations and foundations have been enabled with donation acceptance via PayMaya's donation site, app, and digital QR through this initiative. The fund drive has raised P18 million as of mid-April, 2020.
This campaign has equipped organizations who are leading the charge to help the country combat the spread of the virus. Non-profit organizations were provided with PayMaya's online solutions to easily reach out to the public and raise funds for their respective initiatives. With this, donors from all over the world can easily contribute to a cause of any of PayMaya's partner organization through visiting donate.paymaya.com, going to the Pay Bills page of the PayMaya app, or scanning PayMaya's partners' QR code.
To know more about the efforts of the PLDT Group in beating the COVID-19 pandemic, please visit https://beta.pldt.com/covid19.
