Soldiers, cops donate blood for Cotabato residents

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Police personnel, members of the Philippine Marines and their counterparts in the Army donated blood during a bloodletting session in Cotabato City on Sunday, September 29, a cross-section humanitarian effort for marginalized beneficiaries.

The bloodletting activity was jointly organized by the Cotabato Host Lions Club International District 301-E and the Philippine Navy's 5th Marine Battalion based in Cotabato City, supported by the Cotabato Regional Medical Center, the Cotabato City Health Office and the health ministry of the Bangsamoro regional government.

More than 40 combined Marine servicemen, personnel of the Cotabato City Police Office, members of an Army mechanized unit in Maguindanao del Norte and civilians lined up and donated blood during the bloodletting event at the headquarters in Cotabato City of the 5th Marine Battalion.

The 5th Marine Battalion is a unit of the 1st Marine Brigade based in Camp Iranun in Barira, Maguindanao del Norte.

Lions Club officials here who organized the activity, among them their chapter vice president, Daniel Ulep, told reporters they are grateful to the commanding officer of the 5th Marine Battalion, Lt. Col. Lester Mark Baky, for helping push the project forward.

The plasma collected during the bloodletting activity shall be kept in a blood bank, earmarked for impoverished needy patients in government hospitals and dispensaries around.