Philam Foundation: 21 Years Of Nation-Building And Giving Back To The Community

MANILA, PHILIPPINES – Integrity, excellence, malasakit, and kusang-loob—these are the Philam Life values that Philam Foundation has been hinged on for over two decades. Founded in 1997, the Foundation was borne out of Philam Life’s serious intent to be a good corporate citizen and fulfil its social responsibility, advocating education, financial literacy, and wellness, in its thrust to take an active role in nation building and giving back to the community.

“Through Philam Foundation, we are able to reinforce our commitment to help Filipinos Live Better. This means doing what we can as an organization to help Filipinos live healthier, longer, and better lives,” said Aibee Cantos, Philam Foundation Chairman and Philam Life Chief Executive Officer.

On its 21st year, Philam Foundation continues to contribute in addressing societal needs through its core programs: Philam Paaralan, Philam Savings Awareness and Values Education Sessions (SAVES), and the Alliance for Philippines’ Health and Advocacy (ALPHA).

BUILDING THE NATION

One of the advocacies that Philam Foundation works actively for is the empowerment of the Filipino youth through education. Launched in 2012 after the onslaught of typhoon Yolanda, the Philam Paaralan program started out as a means of helping communities rebuild by constructing new classrooms in areas severely affected by natural calamities.

“With the help of our partners, we are able to rebuild better and faster, uplifting spirits in the communities gravely affected by calamities. The classrooms that we build become beacons of hope for many,” says Max Ventura, Philam Foundation President.

Philam Foundation, in partnership with various private and non-government organizations, turned over 33 newly-constructed classrooms to schools at the end of 2017, bringing up the number to 137 disaster-resilient classrooms built within five years. It has since expanded its coverage beyond disaster-stricken areas and now builds classrooms in remote, unserved, and underserved areas of the country.

COMMITTED TO FINANCIAL LITERACY

As Philam Paaralan is a school-based program, it became a natural platform where Philam Foundation began its advocacy on financial literacy. Philam SAVES is the Foundation’s advocacy to educate children and their parents and teachers on financial literacy. The program was motivated by a 2015 Standard and Poor study which reports that the Philippines is one of the 30 least financially literate countries in the world, with only 25% of adults aware of the basics of managing their money. This gives the Foundation a big impetus to pursue an initiative that will have an impact on financial literacy, giving birth to Philam SAVES in 2016.

Through its two-part module—story-telling and coin bank-designing session for students, and the Financial Planning Session for parents and teacher—Philam SAVES aims to promote the value of saving and being thrifty to schoolchildren and their parents and teachers.

“Philam SAVES is very important to us because being financially literate is the first step in achieving financial wellness. Through this program, we are able to do our part in addressing a very basic problem that can make a difference in the lives of so many people,” said Ventura.

Since its inception, Philam SAVES has educated over 4,600 students and over 1,700 parents and teachers from the Philam Paaralan school beneficiaries. In five years, Philam SAVES aims to educate 2.5 million students, parents and teachers, an ambitious number that will be achieved with the help of the 10,000-strong volunteers of Philam Group employees and Financial Advisors.

Because of its SAVES program, the Foundation was recognized at the recently concluded Asia Responsible Entrepreneurship Awards (AREA), a regional recognition program to honor enterprises in the field of corporate social responsibility. Philam Life emerged as an awardee in the Social Empowerment Category.

PROMOTING TOTAL WELLNESS

Aside from its education and financial literacy programs, Philam Foundation also spearheaded the formation of the Alliance for the Philippines’ Health and Advocacy (ALPHA) together with the Philippine College of Surgeons (PCS) and Philippine College of Physicians (PCP).

Launched in December 2017, ALPHA was created to address the health challenges faced by Filipinos through data-driven and evidence-based health advocacies and projects. This is in line with the Philam Group’s on-going ‘Live Better’ campaign that aims to make healthy living accessible to Filipinos and bridge the gap between their health goals and their actions.

For its initial salvo, the ALPHA consortium in partnership with Cancer Registry Philippines (CARE) under ALPHA 1.0, will undertake the establishment of a hospital-based cancer registry program in the country, with the goal of gathering data on cancer in the Philippines. “Through the registry, we will be able to create a cancer database that will help our doctors generate information for better patient care and management,” said Ventura.

As Philam Foundation looks forward to the future, it remains steadfast in its commitment to do its share in nation-building and giving back to the community through inspiring and empowering initiatives. Through Philam Foundation, Philam Life is able to reinforce its commitment to helping Filipinos live healthier, longer, and better lives.