"[We] are not a politically-affiliated organisation. The only reason why we partnered with the OVP is because I had her number on my phone. She was the easiest person to contact because she’s quick to respond. But [they are] our distribution partner and I’ve been working with them for a while. They’re really amazing and great people to work with. They’re really young and open minded. They’re very excited to help people."

"Number one is to stick to the pattern. When we were looking [at the pattern], there weren’t a lot of seams. It’s all one-piece to ensure that there won’t be a lot of holes because obviously, when you have holes it adds to the permeability of the material and the garment itself. Two, all the doctors said that [PPEs] need to protect them from getting splashed on by blood or other bodily fluids so it being water-proof is best, being water repellant is minimum."

"We’re not screening volunteers. If you want to help, you can help. But if we see the production capacity is big, then we know you are either a factory or very skilled. If we see you’re a home sewer, we will give you the less technical stuff and the non-critical [items that are needed]."

"All donations are centralised through Cynthia [Diaz] and then we dispatch based on capacity. We dispatch [donations] based on a two-week capacity. We ask them: ‘how much can you make in two weeks?’ then we cut the cloth and send that to them. There’s a collection after two weeks and those are turned over to the OVP for distribution. 

We did it like this because we want to be [safe and] transparent. If we delivered directly to hospitals, that wouldn’t be safe. Also, we trust the OVP to deliver the suits and [prompt the hospitals about which are safe for whose use since they’re not medical grade]. Lastly, we’re held accountable to the OVP so you can trace what goes where."

"This project was really just meant to bridge the gap. Right now, there’s no available PPEs so are we just supposed to sit there and do nothing? No. What we want is a steady supply of medical-grade PPEs for our frontline workers and while that’s not happening, we’re here to do what we can at our utmost capacity. Hopefully, there will be a supply soon but as long as we need to do this, we will keep doing this. 

Another thing I’m really proud of about this project is that everyone is working for free. Every single volunteer, none of them are getting paid. They are paying out of their own pockets [to help]. We might have to change the system soon though, depending on sustainability because another thing to consider [is] the mananahi who are out of work. How can we help them so they earn during a time like this?"

For everyone who might have the resources or the skills to help the Manila Protective Gear Sewing Club, you can access their public Facebook group here.