Our Story

Luzon, the largest island of the Philippines, was placed under enhanced community quarantine on March 16, 2020.

Public transportation was shut down. Business operations were disrupted. The streets were suddenly empty. The vibrant life that we knew had turned black and white.

In all crises, the most vulnerable are the poorest of the poor. Immediately after the lockdown, the Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation and Caritas Manila, in partnership with the country’s biggest business groups, kicked off Project Ugnayan. Through Caritas Manila and its network of parish priests, volunteers, and barangay captains, Project Ugnayan-Damayan was able to distribute P1,000 grocery vouchers to 1,371,855 families or 6,859,275 individuals in the most challenged communities of the Greater Manila Area, as of April 20. These vouchers were distributed to barangays with nearby grocery stores so that the exchange could be easily facilitated. Other distribution channels were tapped to reach more individuals. As of May 22, ABS-CBN's Pantawid ng Pag-Ibig has provided assistance to 17 Metro Manila local government units as well as the provinces of Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, and Rizal for the benefit of more than 790,000 families or around 3,950,000 people.

As of May 15, Asian Development Bank and the government's Bayan, Bayanihan program delivered food packages to 160,000 families or 800,000 people through the Philippine Army and the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

Further, Jollibee's FoodAID program delivered ready-to-cook chicken packs to low-income families from its commissary through a network composed of Don Bosco, Caritas Manila, and the Samahan ng Nagkakaisang Pamilya ng Pantawid. They had served 515,512 families or 2,577,560, as of May 10.

According to Guillermo Luz, chief resilience officer of PDRF, Project Ugnayan, through its various distribution channels, had reached 2,837,367 families or 14,186,835 individuals, as of May 27. 

“This unprecedented assembly of so many of the country’s corporations and business families coming to the assistance of the most vulnerable in our society illustrates and speaks of the heart and generosity of the business community,”

said Project Ugnayan lead, Fernando Zobel de Ayala, who is also the president and COO of Ayala Corporation. 

“We are grateful for this opportunity to be part of this business community effort to help people in a time of crisis. This is a movement we should nurture as we prepare to let people return to work and to restart our economy in the post-quarantine period,” he added.

More than a story of generosity and kindness, Project Ugnayan is a story of the sizable effect of cooperation in times of crisis.

Here, we visited some of the poorest communities in Metro Manila to document how Ugnayan brought color back into their lives.

Project Ugnayan - Damayan

Gift Checks (GCs) distributed to Families as of April 20, 2020

“Uganayan was a way for large companies to come together and create a solution to the issue of hunger”

— Carlo Katigbak, President and CEO of ABS-CBN Corporation

 PDRF

Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation (PDRF) is the Philippines’ major private sector vehicle and coordinator for disaster resilience. As an alliance of businesses dedicated to building the disaster management capabilities of the private sector in the country, it works on all areas: prevention & mitigation, preparedness, response, and rehabilitation & recovery. With a whole-of-society approach, PDRF bridges partnerships not only with other private sector entities, but also with communities, government agencies, local government units, and humanitarian organizations. Furthermore, it embodies a solidarity that transcends business competition to achieve the common vision of a resilient, disaster-ready Philippines.

CARITAS MANILA 

Caritas Manila is a non-profit organization that serves as the lead social service and development ministry of the Catholic Church in the Philippines. With over 60 years of experience, its core competencies are geared towards total human development and poverty alleviation and advocates creating a Christian community with a strong social conscience. It directly serves the 13 vicariates of the Archdiocese of Manila, provides technical assistance to parish social services and development ministries, and acts as a catalyst for capacity-building and networking for five other Metro Manila dioceses.