To help affected communities and families cope with the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Philippines’ largest integrated company, PLDT, has pledged support to the RiceAid campaign of the Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP).

PLDT and its wireless unit Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart) are working closely with the government and expanding their support for the government's COVID-19 response by rolling out fiber-powered WiFi connectivity to more government-run quarantine, swabbing, isolation sites and other COVID-19 facilities nationwide.

With the recent submission of the Annual Energy Efficiency and Conservation Report and Annual Energy Utilization Report to the Philippines’ Department of Energy in compliance with RA 11285 or the Energy Efficiency Conservation Act, the PLDT Group reinforced its commitment to actively ensure responsible energy use.

As the long drawn out COVID-19 pandemic continues to overwhelm hospitals in the Philippines’ National Capital Region+, assistance from the MVP Group’s Metro Pacific Hospital Holdings Inc. (MPHHI) is coming in as volunteer nurses from Mindanao brave the risks to help fellow medical front liners save more lives.  Three hospitals in Mindanao have sent 16 nurses from their own rosters to reinforce their big sister hospitals in the nation’s capital. 

Ensconced in a quiet section of the University of the Philippines (UP) complex in Diliman Quezon City is a newly renovated dormitory that now lay witness to the ravages of the long drawn out COVID-19 pandemic.   What used to be the Molave Residence Hall has now been transformed into a COVID-19 facility, nursing COVID-19 positive back to the pink of health.

The disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has drastically changed the way organizations operate—from mobilizing resources containing the virus to managing the socio-economic fallout. These challenges have touched a cardinal principle of public service – operational continuity and the delivery of mission-essential functions.

Manuel V Pangilinan opens the MVP group’s emergency quarantine facility in Antipolo, Rizal, to help care for employees with asymptomatic to mild cases of COVID-19.

PLDT and Smart have activated quick response teams to ensure customers remain connected all throughout as Typhoon Bising batters the eastern border of Bicol and Visayas with heavy rain.

PLDT, PLDT-Smart Foundation, and Tulong Kapatid, the corporate social responsibility consortium of foundations and companies led by Manuel V Pangilinan, have stepped up efforts to support frontline healthcare workers and affected communities during the second round of enhanced community quarantine at the National Capital Region.

With community quarantine restrictions still in place, local upland communities face travel and trade challenges that affect their access to goods and services.  Localized lockdowns also impact pre-existing gender inequalities, causing digital exclusion of females in remote communities.