Cebu Pacific: Change – for Good – is coming!
MANILA, Philippines – There are a lot of good things happening at Cebu Pacific, our favorite low-cost airline that soars high in our friendly skies. It boasts an extensive network across the Philippines with 34 domestic destinations and hubs strategically located in Manila, Cebu, Clark, Kalibo, Iloilo, and Davao. Operating one of the most modern aircraft fleets in the world, it flies to 30 international destinations. It has pioneered in creative pricing strategies, offering the lowest year-round fares for all its flights. There may be less fare but certainly more fun on Cebu Pacific where passengers get a different kind of high with the fun games on board (I’m still hoping to one day win a prize).
And now, another change is coming to Cebu Pacific and it’s all good — Change for Good!
Of course, here to announce this change at the ballroom of Crowne Plaza full of media people is Lance Gokongwei, the innovative president & CEO of Cebu Pacific Air. Lance addresses media guests, “In Cebu Pacific’s 20-year history, it has remained consistent in supporting three key CSR advocacies: environment, education, and relief operations. It is for the last two Cebu Paficic advocacies that we are here today as we officially announce our partnership with UNICEF. First, Cebu Pacific formally announces its support to UNICEF’s emergency response in the Philippines. With our extensive Philippine network, the UNICEF team can assess the effects of calamities and emergency situations and transport much-needed relief goods. Second, I’m pleased to announce that Cebu Pacific is the launch airline partner in Southeast Asia for UNICEF’s Change for Good program. This is UNICEF’s flagship program with airlines all over the world and it encourages our passengers to donate any currency while in flight. These donations will help support a UNICEF program of the airline’s choice. Cebu Pacific initially wanted the Change for Good donations to benefit our traditional education-related initiatives. After all, education has always been the main advocacy of the JG Summit Group and the Gokongwei Brothers Foundation, as well as Cebu Pacific’s steady support of the numerous education-related NGOs. Throughout the course of our discussions though with our partners and UNICEF, we realized that there are many children in the Philippines who need much more than an education. And this is where the First 1,000 Days program comes in. Basically, this health and nutrition program focuses on a child’s first 1,000 days, and we at Cebu Pacific fervently believe this sets the foundation for optimal learning in the future. With the First 1,000 Days program, a child can arrive in the 1st grade classroom healthier, stronger, and more mentally prepared to absorb the lessons for the day. Ultimately, this foundational program will contribute to a more educated and productive Filipino. Starting July 1, this will be implemented out of all of Cebu Pacific’s Manila flights, and ultimately will move on to our other flights. We look forward to the changes that we can bring to the lives of Filipino children and wholeheartedly encourage everyone to support Change for Good and the First 1,000 Days program.”
Change for Good is an innovative partnership of UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund) with the airline industry around the world. “Cebu Pacific is the first airline in Southeast Asia that is now joining Change for Good and as far as I know, I may be wrong but I don’t think so, it is the first low-cost airline to partner with UNICEF for this program,” says UNICEF representative Lotta Sylwander.
Lotta asks, “Why do we want to invest in a child’s first 1,000 days?”
Pure soul: Gary V sings about protecting the rights of every child.
She shares some grim figures and heartbreaking facts: “Every day, 95 children in the Philippines die of malnutrition. Chronic malnutrition or stunting means a child will never grow to the height he could grow to, but it also means he will never reach his full potential intellectually and so on. And the horrific figure is one in every three children in the Philippines is stunted. Stunting, characterized by shortness, poses the biggest threat to the well-being of children today. After a child reaches the age of two, you cannot reverse what happened in the first two years. So if a child has been malnourished during those first years, hasn’t reached his full height, hasn’t developed intellectually, cognitively, we can never go back and say let’s fix it because we need to do it in those first two years. And children who are subjected to stunting die more often of diseases and have permanent cognitive and physical deficits they will never catch up with. Also, we can see that the early onset of chronic degenerative diseases in adulthood usually happens to adults who were stunted as children. We can also say that because of their low intellectual capacities, they will never really have good wages, have good jobs, and will never be the top performers in school and so on. They will forever lag behind. The first 1,000 days really set the foundation for a child, his ability to grow, to earn and learn.”
Corroborating what Lotta said, Dr. Willibald Zeck, UNICEF chief of health and nutrition, asserts, “We’re on top of this new evidence on the impact of the first 1,000 days on a child’s health and nutrition. If we have the right tools, we can make sure these children are safer, have more capacity as adults in terms of their mental health, and can avert some of these diseases later on in life, even diabetes can be prevented.”
Lotta declares, “It’s not strange that Cebu Pacific would like to join us in such an incredibly important program. Because it will prevent the deaths of children, improve education outcomes for them. It will increase the wages of these children when they grow up. It will boost the country’s GNP, because this stunting costs the Philippines per year as much as what typhoon Yolanda did. We hope this program will break the intergenerational cycle of poverty in the Philippines.”
Here also at the Change for Good launch to inspire people to reach into their pockets and reach out to these children are UNICEF national ambassador Gary Valenciano and celebrity advocate Anne Curtis. Gary V and Anne, says Lotta, have been instrumental in raising awareness and funds for all children’s issues in the Philippines.
“It’s just innate, my love for children and wanting to help,” Anne discloses. “It’s something I’m very passionate about — the need to write my very first children’s book for UNICEF which will lead to something I’m very passionate about, which is education for children. If I weren’t an advocate, I’d still be very active doing my part for children.”
As UNICEF celebrity advocate, Anne got to experience first hand the First 1,000 Days program in action during her first visit to Yolanda-affected areas. “I met with families that actually needed help the most, pregnant mothers, newborn babies. I learned about the importance of prenatal visits and the proper nutrition they should have. In the hospitals, I learned how important it is for babies to have breastmilk for the first six months of their lives and continue breastfeeding until their second birthday.”
For his part, Gary V — Mr. Pure Energy who’s also a pure soul, as host Tintin Bersola-Babao notes — has travelled to remote areas in the country. “There’s this place called Sitio Avocado where a school stands in the middle of a mountainous area,” he tells us. “When you look down the cliff, you will see the school. These kids don’t have their parents. During graduation, they make the children face the mountains (because their parents are up there hiding). These NPAs are happy to see there are people who care for their children’s future. Some have put down their arms.”
So, come July 1, on Cebu Pacific flights out of Manila, lovely flight attendants will be walking down the aisle carrying a large pouch for the Change for Good program. “Instead of leaving the envelope, which is quite cold, the cabin crew will be passing a pouch,” Lance explains. “So there’s an opportunity for that personal interaction. A lot of our cabin crew are very enthusiastic about it. A lot of our passengers want to know the cause before they give money. Inherently, Filipinos want to do good. I think they will all chip in.”
Can you imagine how your little loose change can make a big change in the lives of Filipino children in need?
