SMC to donate P.5 billion to Habitat to help 'Sendong' victims

MANILA, Philippines - San Miguel Corp. (SMC) is committing P500 million to build 5,000 homes for the thousands of families left homeless by tropical storm “Sendong” in the cities of Cagayan de Oro, Iligan and Dumaguete.

“This is our way of sharing our blessings from the heart. We want to give our fellow Filipinos hope by providing them the means to start over again. We’re looking at providing livelihood opportunities on top of the houses that we will build for them,” SMC chairman and CEO Eduardo Cojuangco Jr. said. 

“More than just building houses, this is about rebuilding people’s lives and building safe communities,” Ramon Ang, SMC president and COO added.  

The diversifying conglomerate is partnering with housing groups Gawad Kalinga (GK) and Habitat for Humanity to build the houses, in partnership with local government units to help identify relocation sites for the displaced families. 

San Miguel hopes to inspire more private entities to help in the rehabilitation of the affected residents.

Just recently, SMC signed the memorandum of understanding that will signal the start of discussions to build the houses together with GK and Habitat.

San Miguel, through the San Miguel Foundation and Petron Foundation, already donated an estimated P12-million worth of products and cash for the victims of Sendong.

The donations, channeled through various government agencies, government officials, and non-government organizations, included 480,000 bottles of Magnolia PureWater, 650 pieces of Purefoods Fiesta Ham and noche buena packs distributed to affected families on Christmas and New Year’s Eve. 

Aside from these, employees of various companies under SMC participated in relief operations and organized soup kitchens in more than 21 evacuation centers, benefiting 6,000 families from the hardest hit areas in Cagayan de Oro and Iligan cities.