PLDT wins international disaster relief award in UK

MANILA, Philippines - PLDT won the UPS International Disaster Relief Award at Business in the Community’s 2016 Annual Responsible Business Gala in London.

Now on its 19th year, the Responsible Business Awards are the most prestigious and respected in championing responsible businesses in the UK and abroad.

The annual event held last July 11 was the culmination of the 2016 Responsible Business Awards, run by The Prince of Wales’s charity Business in the Community (BITC) to celebrate the innovative ways that businesses in the UK and around the world are making a sustained difference and transforming communities.

“This Award recognizes the unique power and potential of business to engage and support those impacted by disaster. Working together with their NGO and humanitarian partners, businesses can make a huge difference to the lives of so many,” said Minister of State for International Development Rt Hon Desmond Swayne MP TD on the official BITC website.

PLDT’s award winning initiative in reviving the Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation (PDRF) was organized to bring together business in responding to and preparing for disasters.

Initially set up after Typhoon Ondoy, PLDT revived PDRF to effectively mobilize the resources of the private sector in response to Haiyan, working with other companies to deliver emergency food for students, shelter, new schools, etc.

PDRF recently completed the world’s first ever national private sector emergency operations center at Shell House in Makati City. Among those who presented to the judges’ panel were PDRF president Butch Meily and PDRF CFO and PLDT Group controller June Cheryl Cabal-Revilla.

PLDT chairman Manny V. Pangilinan said: “The Philippines faces many natural hazards. One of the key lessons of Haiyan is the need for collaboration, thus the need for PDRF. Super Typhoon Haiyan is one of the worst disasters to hit the country. The business community owes it to our fellow countrymen to prepare for and to respond in the case of emergencies.”