Firms raise P 1.5B to help Metro’s poor

Top business groups have raised more than P1.5 billion to help over a million of greater Metro Manila’s poorest households put food on the table, recognizing that the COVID-19 pandemic and the monthlong lockdown of Luzon would hit the urban poor the hardest.

Through the “Project Ugnayan” initiative, the money will be used to distribute P1,000 worth of grocery vouchers per family, targeting those that were economically displaced by the ongoing “enhanced community quarantine in Metro Manila.”

In compliance with social distancing guidelines, gift certificates delivered door-to-door will be redeemable for food items from accessible groceries and supermarkets.

The business groups supporting Project Ugnayan are: Aboitiz Group, ABS-CBN/Lopez Group, Alliance Global/Megaworld, AY Foundation and RCBC, Ayala Corp., Caritas Manila, Century Pacific, Concepcion Industrial Corp, DMCI, Gokongwei Group of Companies/Robinsons Retail Holdings, ICTSI, Jollibee, Leonio Group, Mercury Drug, Metrobank/GT Capital, Nutri-Asia, Oishi/Liwayway Marketing Group PDRF, PLDT/Metro Pacific Investments Corp., Puregold, San Miguel Corp., SM/BDO, Sunlife of Canada, Suyen Corp.

“We are grateful for the support of the business community and hope that this initiative will inspire more acts of kindness in this time of crisis. Now is the time for our communities to help as one,” said Anton Pascual, executive director of Caritas Manila. “The national health crisis that confronts us is instructive of the need to adopt a holistic perspective that enjoins every sector of society to partake in mitigating the adverse effects of this health debacle. We believe that the current national emergency needs proactive and harmonized intervention of all sectors of society. An inclusive approach that taps all available resources and talents.”

The project will initially engage with Caritas Manila’s Project Damayan and ABS CBN’s “Pantawid ng Pag-ibig” program for the door-to-door distribution of grocery vouchers. Lopez-led First Philippine Holdings Corp. (FPH) gave the P100 million in seed fund for this project.

Distribution is ongoing in four pilot areas and will scale-up in cooperation with project partners.

Talks are ongoing with more companies that have signified their intention to contribute more resources to expand the reach of this project.

Meanwhile, Nestlé Philippines said it continued to support its workers during the health crisis, assisting its employees and even those of its business partners, as the company continues its production with a skeleton crew.

In a statement, Nestlé said it was giving all of its more than 5,000 employees full pay, whether working from home or not. It is also providing special premium pay for the work of the skeleton staff in production during the quarantine period. The company is also extending special assistance and arrangements for employees of its business partners.

Nestlé is also doing an early crediting of the March 2020 payroll and performance bonuses; medical support consisting of cashless purchases and reimbursement of medicine purchases, and free shuttle service, meals and lodging inside the factories. Nestlé is also providing financial support to its third-party merchandising agencies, co-manufacturers and distributors.

“As a food manufacturing company, we at Nestlé Philippines are committed to the safety and welfare of our people and extending a hand to our business partners, while ensuring that our products continue to be available to people who need them during these trying times,” said Nestlé Philippines chair and CEO Kais Marzouki.

“Our primary focus on the welfare of our employees and the employees of our business partners is premised on the basic belief that people matter most in an organization through good times and bad. They make us what we are today,” he said.

City of Dreams Manila through Melco Resorts (Philippines) Foundation is also donating P50 million worth of food items consisting of 675,000 kilos of rice along with other food items such as canned goods, noodles and water. The donation will cover 125,000 food packs which will be distributed to the most vulnerable families.INQ