As first vice president and comptroller of leading telecoms firm Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co., June Cheryl Cabal-Revilla is a no-nonsense leader who exercises great discipline and prudence in accounting for the listed company’s finances.
But her dedication to PLDT does not end with numbers. She organized a comprehensive corporate social responsibility (CSR) program with the support of the PLDT Managers’ Club Inc. and the PLDT Smart Foundation that aimed to honor the country’s teachers. That program was called Gabay Guro (2G).
Since its inception in 2007, Gabay Guro has already provided more than 700 scholarship grants to aspiring teachers and conducted trainings to more than 40,000 teachers nationwide.
During the last Gabay Guro tribute to teachers, over 17,000 filled the Mall of Asia Area.
Under Cabal-Revilla’s leadership, new scholarship grants were given to 190 aspiring teachers last year, and also 39 scholars graduated with honors and special awards, including five magna cum laude and cum laude honors.
With such extensive reach and laudable projects, Chaye was named one of The Outstanding Young Men (TOYM) Awardees for Community Service in 2013.
The TOYM Award is widely recognized as the country’s most prestigious award for young individuals whose selfless dedication in their respective fields resulted in significant contribution to improve the lives of the Filipino people.
During the gala dinner for TOYM 2013 honorees, Cabal-Revilla said: “I am fortunate to be part of a company that has a deep sense of service for the Filipino people and believes that we are here to change lives. Thus, when we organized Gabay Guro, the support was really there and this inspired us to pursue programs that will truly change the lives of those who changed ours—our teachers.”
Organized by the Junior Chambers International (JCI) Philippines, TOYM Foundation and Gerry Roxas Foundation, Cabal-Revilla received her TOYM 2013 Award from His Excellency President Benigno Aquino III in an awarding ceremony held at the Malacañang Palace last December.
In his keynote address, President Aquino cited Cabal-Revilla’s accomplishments as the founder and chairman of Gabay Guro.
“With Gabay Guro’s motto of ’Changing lives of those who changed ours’, Cabal-Revilla has dedicated herself to providing continued support for our educators whether through education and training, or by simply paying tribute to the men and women who guided us in and out of the classroom, thus providing positive reinforcement to what is admittedly a difficult job,” President Aquino said.
Cabal-Revilla believes that improving the quality of life of one teacher creates positive ripple effects, and help in making them become a better teacher to hundreds of students who will become better citizens.
“Gabay Guro is all about recognizing the efforts of these men and women who have changed our lives and helped shape us to who we are now,” she said.
Gabay Guro primarily aims to support and honor teachers through scholarship grants, trainings, livelihood programs, teachers’ tribute, housing and educational facilities, and computerization of public schools.
Gabay Guro recently constructed twin-classroom facilities in three sites in Bohol to replace those devastated by the earthquake and plans to build more classrooms in additional six sites.
“We are happy to be able to build the Bohol classroom facilities in less than two months after the earthquake. We were the first ones to put up permanent structures there with the cooperation of the DepEd and the LGUs,” Cabal-Revilla said.
In Cebu, Gabay Guro has built twin classrooms in Cordova and Lapu Lapu City which were able to withstand the earthquake and the recent super typhoon Yolanda.
Cabal-Revilla finished her BS Accountancy degree from the De La Salle University and earned her Master’s Degree in Business Management, Major in Finance from the Asian Institute of Management.
Apart from Cabal-Revilla, other TOYM 2013 awardees were Chris Tiu for Youth Leadership Development, Emerson Atanacio for Social Entrepreneurship), Nicole Paula Curato for Sociology, Custer Deocaris for Science Communications, Miguel Rene Dominguez for Government & Public Service, Alonzo Gabriel for Food Science & Technology, Karl Michael Reyes for Medicine, and Paolo Antonio S. Silva for Medicine.