P&G to manufacture face masks

MANILA, Philippines — Consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble (P&G) Philippines will be manufacturing face masks at its plant in Laguna to help in efforts to fight the coronavirus disease 2019 or COVID-19.

P&G Philippines yesterday said, its manufacturing plant in Cabuyao City, Laguna would be one of the manufacturing sites globally that will produce face masks as COVID-19 cases continue to pick up.

The face masks will not be available for sale, but for donation as well as for the use of P&G Philippines’ employees.

 “P&G is committed to helping the Philippines fight the spread of COVID-19. We will be investing in additional equipment for the plant to manufacture face masks for donations which will be routed through the DOH (Department of Health) and used to help protect our employees as they work to produce critically important cleaning, health and hygiene products for the nation,” P&G Philippines president and general manager Raffy Fajardo said.

Through this move, P&G Philippines wants to help address the growing need for face masks in the country.

This, as the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases has required citizens to wear face masks when going out of their homes to protect themselves from COVID-19.

Aside from DOH, P&G Philippines will work with the Department of Trade and Industry and the Board of Investments to help hospitals and communities in need of protective supplies to help reduce the spread of COVID-19.

“Hopefully these masks, along with the thousands of hygiene kits we are donating to several COVID hospitals and frontliners, will play a big part in helping frontliners in the fight against COVID-19,” Fajardo said.

Apart from manufacturing face masks, P&G Philippines has P100 million worth of product donations to hospitals and frontliners, as well as assistance for employees and business partners.

P&G is behind brands Pampers, Ariel, Downy, Tide, Safeguard, Head & Shoulders, Pantene, Rejoice, Gilette, Whisper, Ambi Pur, Joy, Vicks, Oral-B and Olay.

The firm has operations in 70 countries worldwide.