The Manila Electric Company’s corporate social responsibility arm, One Meralco Foundation (OMF) and PLDT-Smart Foundation (PSF) donated trucks and rescue boats to the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to further increase the military’s capacity to conduct humanitarian operations, especially in times of calamities.

During a turnover ceremony held at the AFP Headquarters in Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City on Thursday, January, 7, AFP Chief of Staff General Gilbert Gapay personally received, on behalf of the AFP, the donation of three dry vans and a wing truck valued at close to PhP2.5 million. OMF also donated two rescue boats to the Philippine Navy.

Both OMF and PSF are corporate foundations belonging to the MVP Group, which donated a multipurpose BO 105 helicopter to the Philippine Army (PA).

The group’s chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan (MVP) and Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana witnessed the turnover ceremonies.

Last November, OMF, PSF and Metro Pacific Investments Foundation turned over three fiberglass boats complete with rescue and first aid equipment to the Philippine Air Force (PAF). These may be used during evacuations and relief operations, especially in times of floods.

OMF and the various branches of the AFP have been partners in delivering social services especially in far-flung communities over the years. The Philippine Navy (through the Philippine Marines) and the Philippine Army have been providing support to OMF for its school electrification program, a core advocacy that provides solar power to public schools located in some of the remotest mountain and hard-to-reach island communities in the country. OMF was also among the first supporters of the “Football for Peace” program of the Marines in conflict-prone areas in Mindanao.

The PAF, on the other hand, has been instrumental in delivering OMF’s care packages to victims of natural calamities such as during the 2019 earthquake in Batanes, and more recently, the onslaught of Typhoon Ulysses in Cagayan in November.

OMF supported the initiative of the AFP to secure the country’s northernmost border by energizing a concrete fishermen’s shelter on Mavulis Island in Batanes using solar photovoltaic technology in 2018. The shelter now provides a safe haven for fishermen stranded at sea in times of inclement weather in the area, and for military personnel patrolling the border.