Companies, employees join hands for education

MANILA, Philippines—From providing free advertising and promotion to initiating fund-raisers among employees, corporations are making all the right moves for education.

Joining the ranks of Filipinos who have lent a hand to the cause, companies both here and abroad are taking part in TEN Moves (The Entire Nation Moves), a public-private effort to address the classroom backlog in public schools by raising P6 billion by October this year.

Initiated by the Department of Education (DepEd) and corporate-led education advocacy group 57-75 movement, the campaign hopes to encourage Filipinos around the world to contribute P10 a day for 10 months for the construction of new public school classrooms.

“Whenever we talk to people about it, we sense that people are excited because, first, it’s easy to do, it’s very doable,” says TEN Moves convenor Mario Derequito.

“It’s very clear, very easy, and time-bound. And because it’s time-bound, there is a sense of urgency. You know that you will not be giving forever. [You can give] even just once,” he tells the Inquirer.

For one, cinemas in Ayala Malls have started airing TEN Moves advertisements in Metro Manila, Pampanga, Cebu and Davao, according to TEN Moves.

The ads will run until the campaign ends in October 2012.

Ayala Corp. has also handed over donations and pledges from employees, apart from the P100,000 it gave through its youth development arm, the Ayala Young Leaders Congress.

Multinationals including Coca-Cola, Thomson Reuters and Integrated Microelectronics Inc. have also initiated their own fund-raisers for TEN Moves, encouraging employees to pitch in.

DN Steel, Lafarge Cement and members of the Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce also gathered funds for the construction of a primary school in Mt. Pulag in Benguet.

Japan’s Mitsubishi Corp. also donated $65,000 (about P2.8 million) to fund the reconstruction of classrooms in Northern Mindanao, where schools were wiped out following the devastation of Tropical Storm Sendong in December.

TEN Moves has decided to devote funds raised in the first quarter of the year to classroom reconstruction efforts in the disaster-stricken region.

Aside from corporations and their employees, students in some of the country’s top universities have also initiated their own fund-raisers to help the cause.

TEN Moves says groups of students from Ateneo de Manila University and De La Salle University are setting up their own campaigns at school.

Newlyweds Isabel Lacson and Lester Estrada also decided to donate P10,000 to TEN Moves as the souvenir of their February 4 wedding at the Shrine of St. Therese of the Child Jesus at the Newport development in Pasay City.

Their 300 guests came home with a donation in their name and a thank you note from the couple that read: “In lieu of souvenirs, we have decided to spread the joy of our wedding beyond today by placing a donation on behalf of our guests to the TEN Moves Program.”

“We felt strongly that making a charitable donation created a more lasting impression on our guests, and also provided a good opportunity to drive awareness for a specific cause,” Lacson says.

“We hope that the information would allow our monetary contribution to TEN Moves to grow beyond being a one-time activity, but rather a first step; that our contribution of 10,000 pesos would snowball into greater awareness among our 300 guests, and with that even more support for the cause of education,” Lacson adds.

Filipinos in Australia have also started a campaign to collect $10 a month for 10 months from their 50,000-strong community, TEN Moves says.

At the Philippine Embassy in New Zealand, Filipinos have also adopted the campaign, distributing information about TEN Moves through their mobile consular services.

“We’re hopeful that perhaps in the next two to three months, the campaign should catch fire,” says Derequito.