PLDT, PBSP help Filipino families struggling amid Covid-19 crisis

PLDT Inc. recently donated food supplies and vitamins to over 1,000 families in Cebu City and Malabon City adversely affected by the crisis brought about by the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.

The activity was done in partnership with the Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP).

“Urban poor families are some of the most vulnerable at any given time, more so in this period of uncertainty and hardship. Thank you to PLDT for choosing to allocate its Motolite PBSP Balik-Baterya funds to support our Covid-19 campaign. The provision of food packs is incredibly important in minimizing the adverse impact of job losses and suspended economic activities. Our communities are grateful for PLDT’s generosity and solidarity,” said PBSP deputy executive director Elvin Ivan Y. Uy.

Families in Barangay Mambaling, Cebu City received food packs containing vegetables, crops, onion and garlic, and canned goods. Condiments and germicidal soap as well as Cebuano-translated info sheets about Covid-19 were also included in the food pack donations. In addition, 450 boxes of Vitamin C were also distributed.

To support over 40 farmers and fellow farm laborers, all the vegetables were sourced locally from Barangays Tabunan and Sudlon 2 in Cebu City and Barangay Gaas in Balamban, Cebu.

In Malabon City, PLDT distributed food packs containing rice, eggs, dried fish, dressed chicken and vegetables to the indigent families surrounding Catmon Integrated School, which is among the beneficiaries of the company’s school-building programs. The families are from PBSP-assisted homeowners associations.

“PLDT recognizes the power of unity in these trying times, and we are truly grateful for our partnership with the PBSP as well as on-ground organizations in Cebu and Malabon, who enabled us to reach out and touch the lives of these families in need,” said PLDT community relations head Katherine P. Diaz de Rivera.

PLDT’s donations were taken from its Balik-Baterya funds—PBSP’s institutional environmental program which involves the collection, proper recycling and selling of used acid-lead batteries to fund corporate social responsibility projects. PLDT, as its pioneer supporter, remains the program’s top donor.

PLDT and PBSP’s efforts to fight Covid-19 goes all the way back at the onset of the enhanced community quarantine, when the company donated P1 million to the Bayanihan Musikahan, which was used to fund food packs for 1,300 families in various underprivileged communities in Metro Manila.

To know more about the efforts of the PLDT Group in beating the Covid-19 pandemic, please visit https://beta.pldt.com/covid19.