Jose Antonio Aboitiz, PBSP Visayas Executive Committee chairman, delivers his annual report during their 28th annual membership meeting at the Casino Español de Cebu. (CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA)
Around 10,000 households in the Visayas have benefited from the projects implemented by Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP), the biggest corporate-led social development foundation in the country.
During its 28th Visayas annual membership meeting, the PBSP Board of Trustee and chairman of the Visayas Executive Committee Jose Antonio Aboitiz said that these 10,000 households with a population of around 40,000 to 50,000 people have benefited from the P330 million worth of projects implemented by the PBSP.
The projects focusing on health, education, environment and livelihood were rolled out in the provinces of Cebu, Bohol, Iloilo, Samar, and Leyte during the last fiscal year.
For health, the PBSP manages two of the biggest tuberculosis (TB) control projects in the country. The projects funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and local establishments were able to detect 126,388 cases of various forms of tuberculosis and provide medical treatment to patients.
The foundation also conducted more than a hundred caravans in the provinces of Cebu and Negros Occidental to educate women about safe motherhood.
The PBSP also built a total of 80 classrooms in Cebu, Bohol, Iloilo, Samar, and Leyte and conducted supplemental programs for the more than 10,000 students. It also distributed school supplies.
For environment, PBSP continues to implement solutions to water security through the installation of potable water systems in northern Cebu.
It also implemented watershed management projects by planting 100,000 trees and 680,000 mangroves in over 180 hectares of land in the Visayas.
For livelihood assistance, the PBSP was able to help more than 500 fishermen in Cebu through the sustainable coastal resource livelihood programs, which includes fish-cage establishment and the provision of fish-drying facilities, among others.
In Metro Cebu, PBSP has also implemented a “Skills to Succeed” program, which is funded by Accenture to provide computer skills training to underserved high school students across the country and help applicants find jobs.
According to Aboitiz, this year’s theme of “Solving Problems Together” reiterates the PBSP’s call to its member-companies to address the country’s social development challenges through collective action.
“By way of our collective contributions, our foundation has become an organization that has the capacity to plan, develop, monitor, and evaluate projects that help communities become more self-sufficient and productive,” he said. “Let us continue together to uplift more lives through social progress.
This year’s meeting also recognized four new PBSP members, namely Duros Development Inc., Gothong Southern Shipping Lines Inc., Mactan Bank, and MP Bantasan Construction and Allied Services.
Eileen Mangubat, former publisher of Cebu Daily News and Charles Streegan of Pacific Traders were also honored at the event as outgoing members of the Visayas Executive Committee.