Metro Pacific Foundation, Inc.

Metro Pacific Foundation, Inc

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Metro Pacific Investments Corporation (MPIC) courses its CSR efforts through its philanthropicarm, the Metro Pacific Investments Foundation (MPIF), whose main mission is to enhance the lives of the communities they serve through meaningful long-term engagements.

National Food Sustainability

During the year, MPIF officially launched Bayan Tanim!, which provides communities and displaced workers with the means to grow their own vegetables safely at home, effectively addressing the plight of those who lost their livelihoods because of the pandemic and needed alternative means to provide food for themselves and their families.

Bayan Tanim was the third phase of MPIF’s Covid-19 efforts. Prior to this, the Foundation distributed thousands of PPE to medical frontliners in over a dozen hospitals. This was followed by Kaya Natin ‘To, a relief pack distribution effort to over 3,700 families in underserved and marginalized communities.

MPIF also signed a tripartite Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Agrea Agricultural System International, Inc. (Agrea) to further strengthen their shared advocacy for food sustainability in the Philippines. The MOU certified their partnership to support Bayan Tanim!, which was MPIF’s response to support the Plant, Plant, Plant program of the DA and the Move Food Initiative of Agrea. Through the campaign, the DA supplied the seeds for use in Bayan Tanim!, while Agrea supplied the planting crates that contained basic cultivation essentials, such as seeds, seedlings, fertilizer, and soil-less potting mix, as well as fresh vegetables directly sourced from local farmers.

Tulong Kapatid: Synergy for Social Good

While the pandemic disrupted lives and businesses in 2020, MPIC and MPIF worked on initiatives that could help the communities that were badly affected by the health crisis.

Tulong Kapatid, the CSR alliance of foundations and companies under the MVP Group of Companies, started early in the year to extend aid to augment the government’s initiatives.

Tulong Kapatid saw MPIF teaming with One Meralco Foundation, Alagang Kapatid Foundation, Inc., Maynilad Water, MetroPac Movers Inc., and PLDT-Smart Foundation to distribute thousands of relief packages containing rice, noodles, canned goods, bread, milk, coffee, and hygiene packs to help underprivileged families in key areas of the country cope during the extended lockdowns.

The foundations also banded together to provide frontliners with PPEs, set up quarantine facilities, and hand out food, medicine, and other aid to poor families, even as their own operations were severely affected by the quarantine.

Other Pandemic-Related Initiatives

Aside from its Tulong Kapatid initiatives, MPIC had other initiatives that extended aid to those adversely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. For instance, MPIF launched OPLANILAO in the province of Batangas, committing a budget for short-term and long-term projects to help support beneficiaries in the tourism sector and alleviate the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on their livelihoods.

As part of OPLANILAO’s first wave of support, MPIF distributed around 500 relief packs and vitamins to local resort staff, tourism workers, and TESDA-accredited wellness therapists.

Seeing that farmers were unable to sell their produce due to lockdown restrictions even as the food industry was experiencing limited access to fresh vegetables, MPIF donated over 8,000 kilos of fresh vegetables sourced from local farmers’ cooperatives to beneficiaries who needed the supply.

Addressing Healthcare Challenges during the Pandemic

The country’s healthcare system faced unprecedented challenges due to the increasing number of Covid-19 patients, especially in the first few months of the year. To alleviate overcrowding, Metro Pacific’s hospitals introduced telemedicine, which allows patients to consult with their doctors via virtual platforms. In addition, the group provided other services including an e-pharmacy, mobile laboratories, remote patient monitoring, and continuity of care beyond the hospital room.

MPIF also donated 1,000 full PPE kits to various hospitals in Mindanao to augment the depleting number of protective equipment used by their frontliners.

Moreover, in cooperation with key government hospitals, the Metro Pacific Hospital Group created a task force led by MPIC Chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan to improve the coordination of activities and better cope with the rising number of people infected by the novel coronavirus.

Delos Santos Medical Center (DSMC), in cooperation with Maynilad, undertook a project to build a Php15 million testing facility in the hospital grounds. The Maynilad-DSMC testing facility, which was completed in November, makes use of the Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) test, the gold standard in Covid-19 testing around the world. It is expected to boost the capacity of the thirty existing RT-PCR laboratories and five GeneXpert facilities licensed to operate by the Philippine Department of Health, to speed up the processing and release of confirmatory Covid-19 test results.