VIETNAMESE philanthropist Johnathan Hanh Nguyen donated over 750,000 face masks and 16,500 personal protective equipment (PPE) sets to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to help protect the agency’s frontliners against the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
The DFA said Nguyen, chairman and founder of IMEX Pan Pacific Group (IPPG), was instrumental in establishing the first direct flight between Ho Chi Minh and Manila in 1985.
The donation was handed over to Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. by Nguyen’s son and IPPG-Philippines president, Henry Serrano Nguyen.
Locsin expressed his gratitude for Nguyen’s donation of PPE sets, which are essential to the ongoing efforts of the DFA not just in bringing home thousands of distressed overseas Filipinos but also in assisting in the repatriation of stranded foreign nationals in the Philippines.
The DFA on Tuesday repatriated 515 stranded Filipino workers from Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, and Malaysia.
With additional reports: The Manila Times, William B. Depasupi
Photo Sources: IPPG group, CTTO
