Trader lends bikes to Albay cops

LEND-A-RIDE. Policemen in Oas, Albay show the two mountain bikes lent by a local bicycle shop owner in support of the “Albay Bayanihan ng Kasurog Lend-A-Ride against Covid-19” project. Under this program, several local government units in the province also provide shuttle vehicles to medical front-liners. (Photo courtesy of Captain Dexter Panganiban/Albay Provincial Police Office)

LEGAZPI CITY --- A bicycle shop owner in Oas town in Albay has lent two mountain bikes to the police station in Oas town to be used for free by cops serving as frontliners during the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) crisis.

Captain Dexter Panganiban, Albay police spokesperson, said the shop owner is the first from the private sector to respond to the provincial police office’s “Albay Bayanihan ng Kasurog Lend-A-Ride against Covid-19” project.

“The project, through the initiative of our provincial director, PCol. Primitivo Bayongan Jr., tapped the Albay chiefs of police to coordinate with the local government units (LGU) and owners of shops that sell bicycles, repossessed motorcycles, and electric vehicles so that they can enter into a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with them,” he said.

Panganiban said under the MOA, LGU are to provide shuttle vehicles to medical and police frontliners, while bicycle and motorcycle shop owners will let frontliners use their bikes, motorcycles, and/or e-vehicles for free during the entire duration of the ECQ and general community quarantine (GCQ).

“After the ECQ or GCQ, the bikes and other vehicles will be returned to the shop owners who may opt to sell them to the frontliners and other members of the community at a discounted price, either through cash payment or through installments to help them in the expected transition to the so-called ‘new normal’,” he added.

In Bacacay town, the LGU provides shuttle services to its medical frontliners.

In this capital city, the local government has provided two vans for the transport of medical frontliners to and from the health facilities. (PNA)