Manulife taps NGOs for health, education, environment concerns

MANILA, Philippines — Insurance powerhouse Manulife Philippines has tapped three non-government organizations as its partners in trying to address health, education and environmental concerns in the country.

As part of Manulife’s Impact Agenda, the life insurer partnered with Gawad Kalinga, Corazon S. Atayde Memorial Foundation (CSAMF) and Haribon Foundation to deliver on efforts to promote health and well-being, economic opportunities and a sustainable future.

In the tie-up with Gawad Kalinga, Manulife will support at least 300 families through the NGO’s Goodbye Gutom, a program that seeks to educate the poor on how to produce their own food.

Manulife, for its part, will provide the beneficiaries with training on organic farming. The families will also be guided on how they can maintain their plantations for long-term production.

Also, Manulife will build five Peso Smart Learning Centers, educational facilities named after its financial literacy program, in villages supported by Gawad Kalinga. The learning centers will be used as classrooms that can accommodate the remote schooling of children.

Likewise, the Toronto-based insurer renewed its collaboration with CSAMF for their Peso Smart x RecoveREADS program that intends to teach financial literacy in public schools.

For the year, Manulife and CSAMF target to expand the number of graduates to 1,200 students, including in cities and provinces where the program has never reached before.

Since its launch, Peso Smart in itself has graduated more than 400 students who went through various courses on financial literacy at the hands of experts.

On the other hand, Manulife hopes to contribute to the restoration of Philippine rainforests in the partnership it struck with Haribon. For the long haul, the life insurer wants to incorporate climate change considerations in its investment decisions and product offerings.

Under Haribon’s Forests for Life, Manulife will plant 15,000 seedlings in at least 12 hectares of land. The tree planting will be concentrated in Haribon’s conservation areas in Laguna, Quezon and Rizal.

Manulife, or the Manufacturers Life Insurance Co. (Philippines) Inc., saw its profit decline by 11 percent to P3.48 billion in 2021, from P3.9 billion in 2020.

As an industry leader, Manulife ranks seventh among life insurers in terms of size with an asset base of P112.81 billion on P52.73 billion in traditional and P60.09 billion in variables.