Filinvest Development Corporation remains to have a positive outlook for the rest of the year as it moves quickly towards its 2021 workplace herd immunity goal. The conglomerate aims to have 100% of its workforce including employees and third-party service providers by the fourth quarter of 2021. At present, Filinvest Group reported it has inoculated 83 percent of its workforce, with 60 percent double-jabbed and 40 percent partially immunized.
This is in line with the conglomerate’s vision of achieving workplace herd immunity by the fourth quarter of this year. According to Josephine Gotianun Yap, FDC president and chief executive officer, the COVID-19 shutdown was challenging for all businesses, big or small. “We never stopped pushing our projects and growth initiatives forward despite the challenges borne out of the pandemic. With the light of vaccinated hope, we choose to be on the side of optimism. This confidence is borne out of our fast-moving vaccination program FilVax, and our accelerated digital transformation. We are looking forward to achieving herd immunity by the fourth quarter of the year, which will be a critical milestone in the group’s continued growth and recovery curve amid this pandemic. FilVax is only one of the entire group’s synergistic efforts in ensuring that we keep the Filinvest family safe and healthy as we continue to respond to the needs of our stakeholders,” said Gotianun Yap.
Filinvest Group’s free, nationwide vaccination program FilVax kicked off its Visayas leg last August 28 which benefitted employees and third-party service providers across its businesses present in the Cebu province – Filinvest Land Inc. (FLI), EastWest Bank Corp. (EWB), and Chroma Hospitality Inc. (CHI). The said employees and extended workers will receive the company-procured Oxford-AstraZeneca coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines. Held at the ARC Hospitals in Lapu-Lapu City, the ribbon-cutting ceremony was led by FLI SAVP and VisMin Regional Product Head Archie Igot, Quest Hotel and Conference Center Cebu General Manager Mia Singson, ARC Hospital Vaccine Coordinator Alexis Olis, EWB Relationship Officer Kim Lex Regudon and EWB Store Manager Edsel Palmares.
“FilVax’s message is to #FilFreeFilSafe. We want to keep our employees, partners, workplaces, and properties safe and healthy for all. And while we encouraged everyone to get vaccinated towards a COVID-free Philippines, we wanted the whole experience to be quick and easy, while ensuring their safety throughout,” said Isabelle Gotianun Yap.
Filinvest Land Inc. Director Francis Gotianun said the group is committed to lending a helping hand towards the country’s fight against COVID-19. “We procured 100,000 doses of AstraZeneca for FilVax in partnership with the government. We will also donate part of the doses to local government units nationwide where Filinvest operates. The FilVax program is just one of the initiatives under the larger FilFreeFilSafe program, which is a comprehensive suite of activities that address workplace, employee, and customer safety, among others. We want our customers and business partners to FilFree to come to us and FilSafe to work with us. Our vaccination track record is a strong testament to this commitment,” said Francis Gotianun.
FDC carried out various initiatives to help safeguard the health and safety of its employees, customers, and stakeholders. Its accelerated digital transformation and early investments in a robust IT infrastructure empowered its business partners and clients to have contactless transactions online and its workforce to efficiently work-from-home. FDC also established its internal Safe At Work information campaign, on top of the regular employee COVID-19 screening, contact tracing, remote work arrangements, and strict implementation of health and safety protocols across business touchpoints.
Filinvest Development Corporation is the holdings company of the Filinvest group. Companies under FDC includes Filinvest Land, East West Bank, Filinvest REIT Corp., FDC Utilities, Inc., Filinvest Alabang, Inc., and Filinvest Supermall Inc., among others. Filinvest’s projects in Cebu include the 50-hectare township City di Mare in SRP, 11 residential developments such as One Oasis Cebu, Sanremo Oasis, and Amalfi, Il Corso Mall, Crimson Resort and Spa Mactan, and Quest Hotel and Conference Center Cebu, 32 EastWest Bank and East West Rural Bank branches.