Building Homes, Building Lives

Globe Telecom is associated with pioneering the texting phenomenon in the country and introducing the coolest mobile phones and hip parties among the youth.

In a recent survey by Asian Business magazine, Ayala-controlled Globe Telecom was ranked eighth among the most admired companies in the region for 2001 for its contribution to society. Likewise, The Far Eastern Economic Review ranked Globe Telecom sixth in both leadership and quality surveys conducted.

Globe Telecom has come a long way since it started in 1993. Today, Globe has become a trusted and widely recognized brand in the country for its voice, data and value-added network services.

But more than just providing lines, Globe Telecom is deeply committed to uplifting the lives of thousands of Filipino families through its social responsibility programs.

Ayala Corporation president and Globe Telecom chairman Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala II emphasized the importance of going beyond the business sense by addressing the needs of communities a company serves.

He underscored that the Ayala Group of Companies, to which Globe Telecom belongs, is serious in its commitment to nation-building not only in its corporate responsibility but to social responsibility geared towards creating opportunities for families and individuals.

Serving The Youth

The Globe Telecom Academic Achievement Awards (GTAAA) is the core social responsibility program of the company, aimed at recognizing and promoting student excellence in the fields of electronics and communications engineering (ECE) and electrical engineering (EE) in the college level and Science and Math in high school.

Now in its seventh year, the GTAAA is the only industry-academe linkage program in the telecom sector. Started in 1995, the GTAAA was conceptualized to prepare the youth for the future. This year, there are 16 college and 21 high school awardees.

Serving The Community

Jones Campos, Globe assistant vice president for public relations, explains that when Globe started, one of the main concerns was how to serve the communities.

"When we were not earning yet, it was decided that we have to balance our exposure to the community. We would not only give out public service but we would also become socially responsible," he said. Even from the start, he said, Globe started laying down the foundation of being a "neighbor of choice."

For Underprivileged Kids

Aside from GTAAA, Globe Telecom is also the principal financier of a branch of the Center for Excellence (Centex) in Bauan, Batangas. Centex, a project of the Ayala Group of Companies and managed by the Ayala Foundation Inc. (AFI) in coordination with the Department of Education, aims to "raise the standards of public schools and provide bright students from economically disadvantaged communities access to quality education."

Globe Telecom has also donated copies of the coffee-table book on the life and artworks of National Artist Arturo Luz to select educational institutions. Globe Telecom has also given out personal computers to schools and colleges. The UP Integrated School (UPIS) was the most recent recipient of the project.

Scholarship, Internet Provider And Pro-Environment

In the Visayas and Mindanao areas, Globe Telecom and Islacom are involved in the Center for Industrial Technology and Enterprise (CITE) Technical Scholarship Program. CITE is a three-year scholarship program for underprivileged incoming college students who are trained as telecoms technicians. This year, CITE is supporting 17 students who passed rigorous exams and interviews.

Globe is also implementing project ConnectED, a take-off from the government’s PCs for public high schools project. The project provides Internet access to public schools wherein Globe provides Internet-ready telephone lines to the schools.

Habitat For Humanity

Globe Telecom supports mass housing through the worldwide program Habitat for Humanity in the country. During a recent Habitat project in Nasugbu, Batangas, Globe Telecom donated the cost of two houses while Globe management and employees nationwide contributed their own funds to complete the project and volunteered to work on two houses for five days.

Medical, Dental Missions

Globe conducts medical and dental missions nationwide aimed at providing communities with free health services.

Done quarterly since 1998, the missions are implemented in coordination with volunteer doctors, nurses, dentists and barangay health workers. Previous missions were held in Metro Manila, Cebu, Iloilo, Baguio City, Cotabato City, Tarlac, Pangasinan, Lanao del Norte and Batangas City.

With natural calamities occurring in the country yearly, Globe Telecom, with the Ayala Group of Companies, has established the Disaster and Emergency Response Program (DERP) which provides relief assistance to areas strongly hit by disasters and natural calamities. Globe Telecom donates medicines to affected families and SIM packs and call cards to missions.