PASAY CITY -- As the COVID-19 pandemic rages on, the medical frontliners and other essential service providers are often tagged as our modern-day heroes, and rightfully so as they often work long hours and accept the increased risk of infection. But there are also other modern-day heroes to whom we need to give attention and recognition. These are the blood donors and volunteers!

Philippine Red Cross (PRC) Chairman and CEO Senator Richard J. Gordon has expressed deepest gratitude to all the blood donors and volunteers of the PRC.

"All blood donors are heroes. They give the most precious thing, and that is to extend the lives of their countrymen. Just imagine, from January to July 2021, 91,372 people benefited from blood donations. That's more than 90,000 lives saved by our blood donors," said Gordon.

PRC collected 215,128 units of blood from 178,232 blood donors just for the first seven months of this year.

"To the more than 178,000 blood donors, you are all heroes, and the entire country should know this. Lalo na sa panahon ng pandemya, ang mga nagdodonate ng dugo ay mga bayani din," added Gordon.

Gordon also points out that PRC volunteers who are not getting regular salaries are just as fitting to be called heroes. These volunteers are the core of the country's humanitarian organization, working tirelessly for PRC's emergency medical services, the emergency response unit, volunteer services, the Red Cross Youth, molecular laboratories, vaccination centers, and other service delivery programs for which the PRC is known.

"The spirit of volunteerism lives in the heart of the Filipinos. Our volunteers here at PRC do not get paid, not because they are worthless, but because they are priceless," added Gordon. (OSRG)