CAMP AGUINALDO, Quezon City—The Armed Forces of the Philippines and the GMA Kapuso Foundation, Inc. (GMAKF) renewed for another three years a memorandum of agreement (MOA) institutionalizing their partnership in uplifting the lives of underprivileged Filipinos in geographically isolated and depressed areas (GIDAs).
The agreement, which was first inked in 2016 and again in 2019, was signed by AFP Chief of Staff General Andres C Centino PA and GMAKF Chairman of the Board of Trustees Atty. Felipe L Gozon through GMAKF Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Ms Luz Annalee Escudero-Catibog today, June 8, at the AFP General Headquarters.
“It is our pride to sign this MOA with an organization that we highly respect. A big challenge for us is how we will reach these GIDAs and that is where the AFP comes in,” Ms Escudero-Catibog said, sharing GMAKF’s experiences of having difficulty in reaching remote areas of the country.
“We just knew it was impossible but super important to reach these areas because, if aid will be concentrated in the cities and easy to reach places, how about those people in the hard-to-reach communities?” Ms Escudero-Catibog added.
As in the past, the AFP provides manpower and transportation assistance to GMAKF in their relief goods distribution to disaster-stricken areas. The AFP also provides skilled workers from the Engineer units to assist GMAKF in the construction of public facilities such as schools and bridges.
On the part of GMAKF, they will cover the AFP’s participation in GMAKF projects; upload posts on public service collaborations between the AFP and GMAKF on their social media platforms; and air traditional media values in their popular news programs like “24 Oras”.
“This partnership has been running since 2016 and has resulted to numerous development initiatives and humanitarian responses that catered to communities in the geographically isolated and depressed areas of the country, especially during calamities,” General Centino said.
“We are thankful to the GMAKF for putting your trust in us. We will take care of this trust and we’ll make sure that this partnership remains strong in the coming years,” General Centino added.///
