PBSP to join WFP, TNT global walk to end hunger

37 thousand Mindanao children fed through PBSP-WFP project

The Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP) is supporting the event, “End Hunger: Walk the World,” on June 1, Sunday, at the Bonifacio Global City Open Field, Taguig City.

TNT, a Europe-based logistics company, established Walk the World, a global fundraising event to help the United Nations - World Food Programme (WFP) create awareness on the growing problem that is child hunger.

The walk, which aims to drum up support for WFP’s Global School Feeding Programme, is to happen in 24 time zones in 24 hours starting in New Zealand.

Valerie Guarnieri, WFP Country Director, said the Feeding Programme, which focuses its efforts in Mindanao, “provides nutritious food as an incentive to bring children to school and keep them there.”

Lanao del Sur children stay in school, gain weight

PBSP partnered with WFP in an education and health project for schoolchildren and mothers in Lanao del Sur, Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) last year. Lanao del Sur is one of the conflict-affected areas in Mindanao.

Some 37,000 school-age children were fed through PBSP’s Lanao Sur Food Aid Programme funded by WFP.

The Food Aid Program served daily hot nutritious meals and distributed various food commodities like rice, corn-soya blend, oil and sugar.

Aside from pupils, the others who benefited from the food aid were children under two years old, pregnant and lactating women, and individuals who attended skills trainings, and volunteered for community work.

“In co-operation with PBSP, WFP delivered 3,935 metric tons of food covering 25 conflict-affected municipalities in Lanao del Sur which was instrumental in…increasing school attendance, improving concentration and learning (among schoolchildren),” said Guarnieri in a January 2008 letter addressed to Manuel V. Pangilinan, Chairman of PBSP and PLDT.

Parents, who used to force their children to miss school to help in their livelihood, started to see the value of education beyond the food incentives.

The Food Aid Program has also seen tremendous improvement in the children’s weight. Children-participants gained weight by 60 to 65 percent, based on the project’s terminal report.

Member-companies donate basic needs

PBSP member-companies and corporate friends also donated food products and basic necessities to Lanao del Sur beneficiaries.

Kraft gave 259,200 liters of juice benefiting 65,000 children. United Laboratories also gave vitamins and iron supplements for children and pregnant/lactating women.

SM Foundation provided seven sets of refrigerators and coolers for transportation and storage of vaccines and temperature-sensitive medicines.

Through End Hunger: Walk the World, WFP and TNT assert that “Child Hunger has no place in this world.”

PBSP leads partners in uplifting education standards among B’laan

In a statement, PBSP Mindanao Chair Paul Dominguez said that the assistance to the schoolchildren “reflects our abiding commitment to education as a priority in pursuing Mindanao’s true development.”

Mr. Dominguez added that “throughout the years, PBSP has been actively promoting development not only in Sarangani, but also in the conflict affected areas of Basilan, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, Zamboanga Peninsula, Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur and Lanao del Norte.”

“Nagamit gyud namo ang mga gihatag nila, wala na mi mopalit pa (What they have given has been very useful to us, we didn’t buy anymore),” says Jean, a Grade I teacher in one of the beneficiary-schools.

As a farming community, families living in Pait depend mainly on income derived from selling vegetables and other agricultural products in Alabel, Sarangani and nearby General Santos City.

A simple lifestyle and being in constant touch with nature mark the daily routine of a B’laan child. Daryl Mangiling, a 10-year old B’laan child feeds the chicken each morning then proceeds to pasture goats nearby. He walks to school on school days and helps at home on weekends.

Learning the basics of education at Pait Elementary School is enjoyable for B’laan children in this part of Alabel in Sarangani Province. However, the routine changes when summer vacation, planting season and harvest time arrive.

B’laan families help each other in the farm. School children are not exempt from farming. “Motabang gyud ang mga bata sa uma, mao nga kung tingtanum na, gamay na lang estudyante maka-eskwela. (The children really help in the farm, so that during planting season only few of them come to school),” says Jean.

Sometimes, because of spending too much time in the farm, B’laan school children are too tired to go back to school and eventually would drop out in the middle of the year, the teacher confided.

Pait Elementary School has a 5% drop out rate which is higher than the national average of 1.38%.

B’laan farmers plant upland rice, corn, sugarcane, banana, papaya, vegetables and other root crops. They also raise farm animals such as chicken and goats. Some of their crops are bartered in exchange for tools, utensils and other materials that they need at home and in the farm.

Their minimal income oftentimes could not meet other necessities such as educational and health needs of family members. “Malipay mi kung moadto among mama ug papa sa lunsod kay makahangyo mi kung puede makapalit pud ug papel, notebook, lapis o ballpen. (We are happy every time mother and father go to town because we can request again to buy papers, notebooks, pencils or ballpen),” says Kimberly Dialawan, a Grade III pupil.

The project is being implemented in partnership with the Parents-Teachers-Community Associations (PTCAs), the provincial government, and the Alcantara Foundation, Inc. (AFI).

PBSP draws together local government and private sector to control TB in Payatas

The Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP) has brought private businesses and organizations to support the government’s National Tuberculosis Control Program.

PBSP’s recent TB awareness and control efforts in Payatas, Hawak Kamay sa Pagsugpo ng TB, was primarily sponsored by the partnership between Oriental and Motolite Corporation (OMC) and Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) through the Balik Baterya: Pangkalikasan, Pangkalusugan, Pangmatagalan Project.

Balik Baterya is OMC’s flagship project that advocates safe and proper disposal of used lead acid-based batteries (ULABs).

PLDT donated part of the two million pesos it has generated from the return of its ULABs to Balik Baterya for the TB control program.

“Having partners is important because we (government) can’t do it alone, “ City Councilor Bernadette Hererra-Dy said during the April launch in Payatas, emphasizing the importance of public-private sector partnership.

OMC and PLDT were joined by fellow PBSP member-companies like Unilever, Kraft, and United Laboratories in providing Barangay Payatas residents with food, medicines, and personal care products during the launch.

Also present were representatives from PBSP’s partners, the World Health Organization (WHO), DOH, Center for Health Development –National Capital Region (National Capital Region), Quezon City Health Office, and USAID.

PBSP Director Jazmin Gutierrez said, “The project aims to improve TB case detection and cure rates, increase community knowledge and understanding of TB, reduce TB default rate and improve health-seeking behavior among its residents.”

PBSP will organize and train a group of community-based TB educators, and a group of “treatment partners” who will work with health centers in assisting TB patients.

PBSP’s partners and stakeholders sealed the launch with their handprints on canvass as a symbolic expression of their commitment to TB control.

PBSP conducts Bridging Leadership Learning Course for BaSulTa business leaders

The Foundation, through the Center for Corporate Citizenship (CCC), conducted a Bridging Leadership Learning Course on July 18 to 20, 2006 in Zamboanga City. Business leaders from Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-tawi participated in the training.