BAYANIHAN in the time of COVID-19: BPI Foundation supports Farmers in Pampanga

BPI Foundation, the social development arm of the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI), recently extended assistance to over 50 farmers and its 250 family members greatly affected by the enhanced community quarantine by providing them access to markets for their produce.

Together with its program partner RiceUp, an agri-tech social enterprise that empowers farmers through innovation, entrepreneurship, cooperative farming and education, more than 2,000 kilos of fresh produce have been recently sold through online orders from residents in Pampanga as well as bulk purchases from institutional and local government unit buyers.

“It is our goal to uplift the lives of our farmers by giving them better opportunities to earn a decent living -- a fitting compensation for the backbreaking work that they do for us. We need to continue supporting our farmers especially in these trying times.  They produce food which is essential to our survival,” said BPI Foundation Executive Director Owen Cammayo.  

BPI Foundation also gave relief packs to over 300 rice farming households in six barangays in Pampanga.

Learn more about BPI Foundation and its Farm to Table program.

Sewing to help save lives: BPI Foundation provides livelihood to poor community while supplying cloth masks to front liners

BPI Foundation, the social development arm of the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI), provided livelihood opportunities to a social enterprise and its community of seamstresses in Payatas as they supply cloth masks to medical front liners amid the COVID-19 outbreak.

Several enterprises have transformed the health emergency situation into an opportunity to innovate and develop their products. One of them is Habi Lifestyle, a BPI Sinag social enterprise who gives individuals an opportunity to make responsible, conscious, and positive choices through its 100% Filipino-made, environment-friendly, and sustainable fashion accessories. The enterprise faced the current crisis by using their expertise for producing cloth face masks, which are now in high demand for health protection. BPI Foundation has reached out to them to produce 1,000 cloth masks, aiding the livelihood of around 30 seamstresses in their Payatas community.

“During these trying times, our focus is to help keep their businesses afloat. We need to support our social enterprises now more than ever since they have the capacity to directly help the underserved communities,” said BPI Foundation Executive Director Owen Cammayo.

“Through this initiative, we also want to extend assistance to our medical front liners who are closely combating the spread of the deadly virus. We’ll give the cloth masks to the doctors and medical staff of the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM),” he added.

Learn more about BPI Foundation and its Sinag program.