iBank launches outreach programs

Commercial banking sector leader International Exchange Bank (iBank) recently stepped up its involvement in community outreaches in a bid to further strengthen the bank’s corporate philanthropy program.

Ramon Sy, iBank president and chief executive officer, said the financial institution will begin its participation in the Habitat for Humanity’s "Building Blocks for Habitat", a nationwide employee-giving project. The project gives iBank employees an opportunity to contribute both financial resources and actual man-hours for the construction of houses for indigent families.

Sy said iBank’s support for the Habitat project "is mutually beneficial." While the bank helps the project achieve its goals, the project, in turn, helps enhance the service-orientation of iBank’s employees.

Meanwhile, the bank also launched its "iSmile" project in coordination with Operation Smile, Philippines (OSP). The OSP, with iBank’s support, will construct a Cranio Facial Center to treat children and teen patients with cranio facial deformities. OSP is the local arm of the international non-profit organization which helps indigent children with cleft lips and palates. The outreach has been to 21 countries and operated on some 55,000 children worldwide, 10,000 of which came from the Philippines.

Similarly, iBank is helping in the completion of a new villa that will house residents of Elsie Gaches Village (EGV). Located on a 16-hectare spread in Alabang, EGV is now building five more modest villas. At present, the facility can only accept 200 children on live-in arrangements. Others are accommodated as day-care patients. With the help of iBank’s donation, EGV can expand the number of its beneficiaries.

The village, officially named the National Center for the Mentally Retarded, is one of the best-known and longer serving facility for indigent children suffering from autism, cerebral palsy, epilepsy. Downs Syndrome and other forms of mental and emotional handicaps.

Two other institutions enjoy iBank’s support: the Tahanang Walang Hagdan (TWH) and the Tuloy sa Don Bosco Streetchildren Project. TWH is an Antipolo City-based foundation which provides rehabilitation, education, vocational training and employment for persons with physical disabilities.

Tuloy, on the other hand, is a shelter and training facility for streetchildren established in the Don Bosco Parish compound in Makati City.

Focus on youth

Sy said iBank believes that "reciprocal relationship find excellent expression in its various involvement with projects that benefit children and the handicapped."

"It is important for business organizations to invest also in the development of the community at large," he explained. There is no better investment than in the future of young people and in programs that help them become productive despite their physical or emotional limitations, he added.

The bank’s corporate philanthropy program is also a way of returning the goodwill shown by the community towards the financial institution. We have been growing steadily over the past years and this would not have been possible without the trust and support given by the community to us, he noted.

"In a way, our community outreaches mirror this relationship with our clients," Sy said. "This is because iBank’s social outreaches reflect the faith of our loyal customers in the bank – we, too, have faith in the ability of young people to build for themselves a promising future," he added.