GMA joins CEOs in golf for a cause

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will join over 100 chief executive officers (CEOs) and senior managers of the country’s top corporations in the second President GMA-PBSP at the Manila Golf and Country Club on July 25. The tournament, organized annually by the Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP), hopes to raise funds in support of the President’s A Million Jobs (AMJ)program.

This year’s tournament, dubbed Swing for A Million Jobs, aims to contribute to the administration’s jobs creation drive which has already reported more than half a million jobs as of middle of this year.

"We hope to allocate the funds that we will raise from this tournament into microfinance and livehood projects where sustainable jobs can be created," said Luis "Cito" Lorenzo Jr., Presidential Adviser on creating one million jobs.

The 18-hole tournament with a total of 25 teams will use the shotgun start to accommodate all the participants at the Manila Golf and Country Club.

Movers behind this year’s tournament include President Macapagal-Arroyo as honorary chair; Luis "Cito" Lorenzo Jr., as chair of the committee; Joselito Campos Jr., chairman and CEO of United Laboratories, Inc. and Oscar Lopez, chairman and CEO of First Philippine Holdings, Corp., as co-vice chairs. Major supporters are First Philippine Holdings and San Miguel Corporation, PLDT, SMART, Unilab, Del Monte, Citra Metro Manila Tollways, Nestle, Shell, Dole Asia, PNOC, GlaxoSmithKline, RCBC, Aboitiz and Co., and Philippine Daily Inquirer.

Last year’s tournament generated P24 million for the PBSP Mindanao Peace and Development Program which includes literacy, basic services and skills training for the men, women and children affected by the prolonged hostilities in the south. Half of the funds went to the combat rations of the Mindanao soldiers as designated by President Macapagal-Arroyo.