MANILA, Philippines — The SM Supermalls announced on Wednesday that it will waive rentals to all tenants nationwide from March 16 to April 14, 2020.

This is to offer tenants some relief during this trying time, so that they can in turn lend more assistance to their employees during the period of community quarantine.

“We share our tenant partners’ concerns at the unfortunate situation and will waive rental charges for those affected and unable to operate during this period,” said SM Supermalls President Steven Tan.

This support forms part of SM’s commitment to fight the effects of the COVID-19 outbreak, in addition to its recent announcement that it has allocated P100M to provide protective equipment and supplies towards hospitals for the safety of medical front liners, as they actively fight the spread of COVID-19.

“To ensure the safety of medical frontliners, SM is bringing in personal protective equipment (PPE)—face masks, gowns, visors, hoods, gloves, and shoe covers, as well as urgent medical supplies to help government hospitals who badly need them,” said SM Prime’s Hans Sy.

Assistance has also been extended to Philippine General Hospital (PGH) and Research Institute for Tropical Management (RITM) for their urgent needs and for improving their laboratory testing capacity.

SM has also allocated PPEs and medical supplies to the UP Medical Foundation Inc. to reach a wider network of hospitals.

To improve availability of tests, SM has reached out to Manila Healthtek Inc. to distribute 20,000 tests for free to government hospitals, once approved for use.