MARIVELES, Bataan –– French Ambassador Nicolas Galey on Friday announced the donation of two million Euros to the government’s research programs, which seek remedies for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) that has not spared his own country.
The donation’s recipients include the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) which has been the primary facility that screened people for infections when the pandemic started.
“The French government is focused on research [to determine] how to combat Covid-19,” said Galey, who visited the town with his wife and daughter. The ambassador said his government has been supporting research work in Southeast Asia.
The ambassador spoke at the hilly Barangay Alion, whose chairman Al Balan is Galey’s close acquaintance.
Galey was received there by Bataan Gov. Abet Garcia, Mariveles Mayor Jocelyn Castaneda, and Balan, who all wore face masks.
Galey’s attention was drawn by Balan’s posts about how he had been providing food and other provisions to his neighbors during the Luzon lockdown when residents were barred from leaving their homes.