Manila Race Raises One Million Pesos For HFH Philippines’ Response To Typhoon Ketsana
Globe-Ayala Land Run For Home Also Sees 30 Million Pesos Pledged For Habitat Project To Resettle Informal Settlers in Calauan
MANILA, 14th April 2010: More than 8,000 runners took part in a Manila race in aid of Habitat for Humanity Philippines. It was the second consecutive year that Globe Telecom had organized the Run for Home with HFH Philippines also being the beneficiary last year.
This year’s Globe-Ayala Land Run for Home was organized to raise funds for a project for resettling informal dwellers by Globe’s parent firm Ayala Corp in a partnership with HFH Philippines. Runners had the choice of five distances, 3km, 5km, 10km, 15km and 21km.
(From left) HFH Philippines managing director Ricardo Nicanor N. Jacinto; HFH Philippines board of trustees’ Rebecca Maronilla; HFH Philippines’ Friends of Habitat co-chair Margarita Moran; Ayala Corp president Fernando Zobel de Ayala; Habitat’s vice-president for Asia-Pacific Rick Hathaway; HFH Philippines president Francisco del Rosario and HFH Philippines board of trustees’ Catherine Maceda.
After their run, Team Habitat posed for a shot with Ayala and Habitat executives.
Habitat home partners showing off their running shoes donated by New Balance Philippines: (from left) Rosenda Timblor, Elvie Pablo, Babylyn Noguerra, Ruth ARcaya, Beth Quillan and Margarito Callos.
Ayala Corp’s subsidiaries – Ayala Land, the Bank of the Philippine Islands, Globe Telecom, Manila Water and Integrated Microelectronics – have each pledged five million pesos (about US110,120) for a total of 30 million pesos for the development of a second site in Calauan. Ayala earlier made a commitment to the housing component as part of the Pasig River rehabilitation project. On the 12 hectare second site in Calauan, Ayala and HFH Philippines will build 175 homes and seek other partners to construct the remaining 786 houses. Ayala will also send its staff on Habitat builds in Calauan over a six-month period till September.
About one million pesos raised from the race went toward HFH Philippines’ effort to help families affected by Typhoon Ketsana (Ondoy) with shelter repair kits. To date, HFH Philippines has distributed 4,095 such kits in Marikina, Bulacan, Pasig, Quezon City, Valenzuela City, Benguet, La Union, Rizal and Pangasinan. Each kit, which costs about 7,000 pesos (US153), includes items such as roofing materials, lumber, plywood sheeting, nails, screws, tie wires, sealants, bags of cement, and other materials.
Among the runners was a contingent of more than 30 Habitat board members and staff of HFH Philippines. Fernando Zobel de Ayala, Ayala Corp’s president and chief operating officer and former Habitat for Humanity International board member, ran 21km.
Home partners were also part of Team Habitat. Donning brand new running shoes from New Balance Philippines, the home partners could hardly mask their excitement. They were chosen by HFH Philippines to take part in the race based on their good loan repayment records and their leadership in transforming and sustaining their respective communities. The home partners who took part were: Anne Villegas, Gloria Molabola and Gina Laylo of Pinagsama village in Taguig City; Rosenda Timblor, Elvie Pablo and Babylyn Noguerra of FTI Rotaryville Family Townhomes in Taguig City; Jeffrey Candelaria, Marlon Blaza, Jay-ar Pertez and Bong Alcala of BayaniJuan sa Calauan in Laguna, and Margarito Callos, Belen Quillan and Ruth Arcaya of Pinugay, Baras in Rizal.
While home partner Gina Laylo was happy to show off her running gear, she had to counter some comments from her neighbors. When her neighbors were told that she was chosen as a home partner representative because of her promptness with repayment, they too wanted to emulate her example.
Another home partner Bong Alcala said: “We are very grateful that we were given importance. These shoes that New Balance gave us, I wore to my trip to Manila.”
In future, Globe Telecom president Ernest Cu expects Globe and the Ayala group to continue raising funds for Habitat for Humanity through such annual races. The organizers were particularly heartened that the race generated great interest despite the lack of large-scale publicity campaigns. “We had to close the registration after we hit 8,500 runners, compared to last year’s 6,400 runners,” said Globe’s race organizer Archie Monzon.