The Department of Agrarian Reform community is now praying for its former chief, Heherson Alvarez, and his wife Cecile Guidote, who are both in critical condition in a hospital in Manila due to coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) infection.
Its management requested for prayers for the immediate recovery of the well-loved couple to be recited at the employees’ homes in compliance with the government’s strict stay-at-home policy to prevent the further spread of the virus.
The couple were said to have been placed under intubation after their condition got worse.
The DAR employees wish that the Alvarezes survive the virus.
Alvarez, now 80, assumed office at the DAR on May 1, 1986 until he relinquished the post to run and eventually won a seat in the Senate in the 1987 national elections.
He served out the two-term limit for senator in 1998.
Meanwhile, Secretary John Castriciones, in his latest video conference with the agency’s third-level officials, directed Undersecretary for Support Services Office Emily Padilla to come up with a proposal on how to support the agrarian reform beneficiaries in line with the government’s program “Bayanihan to Heal as One.”
He ordered the SSO group to immediately undertake an “ARBold Move to fight COVID-19” program and redirect its budget for social infrastructure building and enterprise development and economic support.