Yolanda rehab brings Manny O. group, Gawad Kalinga together

Love and God move in mysterious ways.

So says Manny O. Group founder and chair Manny H. Osmeña, adding that it was nothing short of Divine Providence that brought him and Gawad Kalinga founder Tony Meloto together for the sake of the survivors of Supertyphoon “Yolanda.”

“I am just amazed how God is working because this is the first time I met Tony,” Osmeña says of their meeting on Nov. 15.

“To see and realize that we share the same vision and direction in our lives, it is just incredible! Tony and I share the same philosophy—for a business to be sustainable, everybody has to progress—the company, the community and the people. We are both committed to be involved in helping the community while we do our respective businesses,” says Osmeña, whose ventures include the production of the award-winning Manny O. wines and the operation of the Mövenpick Hotel Mactan Island Cebu.

An early expression of the partnership between Gawad Kalinga and the Osmeña group is the “Yolanda Rebuild Program,” under which part of the room revenues of Mövenpick in November were donated to Gawad Kalinga.

Meloto says in a statement, “The partnership of Gawad Kalinga with Mövenpick Cebu’s Yolanda Rebuild Program is a celebration of hope—that we can rise together from the worst of calamities through miracles of solidarity.”

On Nov. 8 to 10, the weekend when Supertyphoon Yolanda wreaked havoc on central Philippines, all of the room revenues were donated.

To add to the Yolanda Rebuild Program funds, the Manny O. group also donated 80 percent of all Movenpick room revenues generated from sales between Nov. 15-24.

These sales included gift certificates for room stays up to May 2014.

The funds—estimated at P20 million—from the Yolanda Rebuild Program will be used to rebuild communities in Leyte, Samar and Cebu, the home base of the Manny O. group of companies.

He says P5 million each will go to housing projects Hernani in Eastern Samar, Madridejos in Bantayan Island and Palo, Leyte and the remaining P5 million will be used to establish small-scale fish processing facilities in the three communities, to sustain the efforts.

With the successful conclusion of the Yolanda Rebuild Program, Osmeña says he and Meloto “will be looking for a long-term and a sustainable solution in helping each other do our part in rebuilding the nation.”

Osmeña, who turned 60 years old in September this year, says that he is fired up to do his part to make the Manny O. group an ideal corporate citizen and leverage on its strong financial position to reach out to communities that need help.

“I believe that this is the plan that God has for me and my group,” says Osmeña.