A different bottom line

(Part of an ongoing account started on March 13, 2020 of how the spread of COVID-19 in our country and our government’s response has affected our lives.)

For as long as I can remember, I have been monitoring fuel price adjustments so that I will know whether to gas up (or not) before 6 a.m. every Tuesday, when oil companies implement them at the retail stations.

Now, I no longer remember the last time I refueled the car. It’s a shame, really, since fuel prices keep going down. But the tank is still almost full and I barely drive anywhere so it’s no use getting excited over oil price rollbacks while the country is under enhanced community quarantine due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak.

Motorists and commuters are confined to their homes; offices, establishments and even points of entry like airports and piers are closed, and manufacturing firms are operating at half-capacity, if at all.

Like most industries, the oil and gas industry is taking a hit big-time. The coronavirus outbreak has triggered a double problem - the drop in oil’s value and the resulting price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia.

Yet gas stations remain open because fuel is vital for those who need to get to and from hospitals, buy food and medicine, man assigned checkpoints, and deliver food and important documents.

Shell has even made these stations pick-up points and rest stops for front liners with its SELECT stores serving free food products for health care workers, police force, military men, and logistics drivers.

Some gas station owners have also helped donate food packs and portable washing facilities to military and health front liners. I have not refueled for a while now so I would not know, but I’ve heard that a Shell station nearby also distributes Vitamin-C packets for customers. Free fuel, too, but only for accredited vehicles under partnerships lodged with certain bus and forwarding companies to transport healthcare professionals as well as critical goods.

Shell has over a thousand gas stations all over the country, which means that attendants, Deli2Go staff, dispatchers, drivers, mechanics and other personnel continue earning during the quarantine period.

Sales are low so it must be a struggle to keep these stations open. The same goes for Shell’s refinery in Batangas and depots like the North Mindanao Import Facility in Cagayan – one of many strategically-situated storage terminals and supply points across the country integral to supply and distribution.

Like other big companies, Shell reaches deep into its pockets not only to take care of employees, but also to help where it can, especially in communities where its facilities are located. 

(L-R) Pilipinas Shell Foundation Inc. (PSFI)  Project Officer
Gary Aliggayu, Pasacao Municipal Administrator Felix Morandarte,
and PSFI Project Officer Noah Portuguez check the goods
 for distribution to targeted indigent families. 

A thousand indigent families in Pasacao, a third-class town in Camarines Sur in the Bicol region where a Shell terminal is located, are getting relief goods from the company in partnership with the town government.

National Artist for Music Ryan Cayabyab has also lauded Shell for donating PhP4 million through the Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP) to Bayanihan Musikahan, a marathon online concert series aimed at raising funds to buy and distribute family packs containing food and protection kits for displaced workers in impoverished Metro Manila communities.

Shell Country Health Advisor Dr. Rose Rivera (3rd from right) 

leads Shell officials in turning over 3,000 pieces of N95 face masks 

to Department of Health (DoH) Undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje.

Also in photo are (L-R) Shell Country Occupational Health Nurse 

Patrick Jeremillos and DoH Director Gloria Balboa, 

Assistant Secretary (Asec.) Kenneth Ronquillo, 

Undersecretaries Gerry Bayugo and Maria Rosario Vergeire 

and Asec. Nestor Santiago.

Less conspicuous are efforts to support frontliners who have been tirelessly working to flatten the curve - 10,000 N95 face masks and 330 PPE sets to the Department of Health and UP-Philippine General Hospital, as well as drinking water to seven hospitals.

Companies big and small, even those cash-strapped, are finding ways to take care of their own. But more is expected of big ones like Shell and even those that Duterte has called out in the past for water issues, like the Manny Pangilinan-led Metro Pacific Investments Corp. and the Ayala Corporation.

They’re responding big-time and then some, redefining their bottom lines according to their values.

DoH update: As of 4 p.m. of March 28, the Philippines has reported 1,075 confirmed corona virus cases, including 35 recoveries and 68 deaths.