PDRF showcases Odette relief, recovery efforts

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation (PDRF), the country’s primary vehicle for private sector support during emergencies, showcased its efforts in providing relief to Typhoon Odette victims and supporting government initiatives through the organization’s T3 (Test, Trace, Treat) task force during its board meeting held recently, which was attended by business and NGO leaders as well as government representatives.

During the board meeting, PDRF co-chairman and Metro Pacific Investments Corp. and PLDT Inc. chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan said his wish for the group is for it to continue to “pick up the burden for our country and support Filipinos during our darkest hours.”

PDRF co-chairman and Ayala Corp.chairman Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala hailed the “network of partnerships among businesses, between business and government and between business and international organizations and governments” as the “secret behind the organization’s success over the last decade.”

Soon after the typhoon struck, PDRF sent aid missions to Southern Leyte, Cebu, Siargao, Dinagat Island and Surigao City and delivered goods from its network including food from McDonald’s, Jollibee, ICTSI and One Meralco Foundation as well as water from Coke, Maynilad and Manila Water.

Meralco and Aboitiz Power linemen are currently in Cebu and Bohol helping restore power while Magsaysay Shipping Line through Lorenzo Shipping transported Caritas relief packs to Cebu. DMCI supplied barges that brought the Department of Social Welfare and Development, Department of Energy and United Parcel Service trucks to Siargao, Surigao City, and Palawan.

AirAsia and Cebu Pacific provided free seats and cargo space for humanitarian workers and relief goods. Maynilad also supplied mobile water treatment plants to affected areas. Delnet International is delivering fishing boats to Malitbog, Leyte. JP Morgan, Maynilad, MPIC Tollways and others provided funding.

PDRF’s Clark Operations Center provided four briefings to the private sector in the days following the typhoon.

Transitioning from relief to recovery, PDRF will focus on revival of livelihoods by supplying fishing boats to coastal communities and assistance to sari-sari stores and small businesses along with repair of water systems, schools, health clinics and evacuation centers.

“Just having the different sectors of the business community come together during a crisis gives us all hope for the future, “said PDRF president Butch Meily.

Also active in numerous areas of the COVID battle, PDRF’s Task Force T3, led by chief resilience officer Bill Luz, has been assisting the government since the beginning of the health crisis in March 2020 by increasing testing capacity, recruiting workers for the Department of Health, providing cold storage facilities for vaccines through Zuellig Pharma, establishing the One Hospital Command where public and private hospitals can exchange information, retaining the Boston Consulting Group to advise the government, and supporting vaccination campaigns through ads and additional inoculation areas.

PDRF is headed by co-chairmen Pangilinan, Zobel de Ayala, and Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle. Aside from the three co-chairs, the newly elected board members include Federico Lopez, chairman and CEO of First Philippine Holdings Corp.; Sabin Aboitiz, president and CEO of Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc.; Doris Magsaysay-Ho, CEO of A. Magsaysay, Inc.; Edgar Chua, chairman of the Makati Business Club; Lorelie Quiambao-Osial, president, CEO and executive director of Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp.; Ray C. Espinosa, president and CEO of Manila Electric Co.; Jose Victor Emmanuel de Dios, president and CEO of Manila Water Co.; Rogelio Singson, president and CEO of Metro Pacific Water; Jose Maria Lorenzo Tan, adviser to the World Wildlife Fund Philippines; June Cheryl Cabal-Revilla, CFO and chief sustainability officer of MPIC and Meily.

As an alliance of businesses dedicated to building the disaster management capabilities of the private sector in the country, PDRF works on all areas: prevention and mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery and rehabilitation.