Pepsi, partners donate ‘water for life’ to Yolanda victims

MANILA, Philippines - Pepsi-Cola Products Philippines Inc. (PCPPI) has sustained its assistance and relief projects for the Typhoon Yolanda victims, the latest of which consisted of 300,000 liters of drinking water for 15,000 families in the Visayas.

The donation, called “Pamaskong Patubig,” was made possible with the collaboration of five global companies – Sealed Air, Dow Chemical Co., Quality Corrugated Inc. (QCI), DHL Global, and ACA International.

The “water for life” donation was contained in 2.5-liter pouches, with every family receiving eight pouches. The packaging was done at the PCPPI plant in Muntinlupa City.

Pepsi provided the drinking water while Sealed Air accounted for the 120,000 flexible pouches used for packaging liquid food such as condiments. Dow donated the polyethelene resins used to manufacture the pouches, QCI supplied the carton boxes, while DHL and ACA handled the air transport requirement.

The initial batch of 4,300 pouches was turned over recently to the Sagip Kapamilya Foundation of ABS-CBN.

PCPPI also donated a total of P4 million in cash and over P700,000 worth of Tropicana Coco Quench drinks to the Sagip Kapamilya Foundation and GMA 7’s Kapuso Foundation.

“Clean water is a precious commodity needed by the survivors of Typhoon Yolanda. Through ‘Pamaskong Patubig,’ we hope to help in the process of rebuilding the lives of those in the affected communities,” PCPPI president Partho Chakrabarti said.

Earlier, United States-based PepsiCo International Foundation donated more than $1 million in international aid to four partner agencies: the American Red Cross International Response Fund, Give2Asia, Habitat for Humanity International, and Save the Children.

On the other hand, Lotte Chilsung, PCPPI’s parent company in Korea, also turned over $100,000 to the International Red Cross.

Sealed Air has also donated cleaning chemicals to Sagip Kapamilya as well as $50,000 to the Philippines Red Cross, apart from embarking on a global employee donation drive and pledging to match employee donations up to $100,000 made to the World Food Program USA.