Pru Life UK Employees Champion Bayanihan Spirit in Brigada Eskwela 2025.

Pru Life UK once again rolled up its sleeves for Brigada Eskwela, the Department of Education’s nationwide schools maintenance programme, rallying employee volunteers last month in support of Pleasant Hills Elementary School in Mandaluyong City.

The initiative began at the Pru Life UK’s headquarters, where employees painted pots and planted vegetable seedlings. These were later donated during a school outreach, part of a wider effort to prepare classrooms for the new academic year. Volunteers spent the day painting walls, cleaning rooms, and organising books—bringing fresh energy to the school community. Pru Life UK also provided painting materials to support ongoing refurbishment needs.

“It’s fulfilling to give back in such a tangible way,” shares Maria Junifer Maliglig, one volunteer. “Seeing the impact first-hand is what makes it all worth it.” A long-time participant in Brigada Eskwela since 2012, Pru Life UK’s commitment to education goes far beyond paintbrushes.

Through its flagship Cha-Ching Financial Literacy Programme, the company has empowered over 1.5 million students across the Philippines with essential money management skills. Read recent story on expanding and fully integrating it in Bicol region here. The Pleasant Hills Elementary School is also a partner school for Cha-Ching.

Complementing this is the Adopt-a-Madrasah initiative, which supports Islamic schools in Mindanao with learning resources, teacher training, and tailored content on Takaful (Islamic insurance), digital skills, and sustainability. In 2025, the programme aims to reach over 1,500 learners across nine madaris. These efforts reflect Pru Life UK’s broader mission: to foster inclusion, champion financial education, and empower communities—one classroom at a time. Pru Life UK volunteers painted pots and classroom walls in support of Pleasant Hills Elementary School in Mandaluyong City’s Brigada Eskwela programme.

Allianz Volunteers and Kids Join Food Rescue Kitchen Activity with SOS.

Allianz PNB Life, together with its employees, their children, and community volunteers, gathered in Quezon City for a meaningful Food Rescue Kitchen activity organized in partnership with Scholars of Sustenance (SOS) Food Rescue PH. Around 20 volunteers from Allianz PNB Life joined the initiative, alongside additional members from the local community.

The initiative is part of SOS and Allianz PNB Life’s ongoing efforts to promote family volunteerism and raise awareness on the pressing issues of hunger and food waste. Volunteers helped prepare, cook, pack, and distribute a total of 500 meals to members of the local community.

The activity reflects Allianz PNB Life’s continued commitment to securing the future of Filipinos—not only through relevant protection and investment solutions, but also by advancing sustainability and community empowerment through impactful partnerships.

ABOUT ALLIANZ PNB LIFE INSURANCE, INC.

Allianz PNB Life, Inc. (AZPNBL) was established in 2016 through a joint venture between German-based Allianz Group and the Philippine National Bank (PNB).

Allianz ranked as the top insurance brand and 29th overall in the 2024 Interbrand global rankings, and it is one of the most sustainable global insurers according to the Dow Jones Sustainability Index. Locally, AZPNBL is certified Great Place To Work and is recognized by the Insurance Business Asia as a Top Insurance Employer in 2024. The company plays an active role in the community, creating a better tomorrow through sustainability advocacies such as food rescue, financial inclusion, and youth empowerment.

AZPNBL currently operates 25 business centers in key cities in the Philippines, with over 400 financial advisors serving customers of its bancassurance partner PNB, and 2,250 active Life Changers™ catering to its agency clientele nationwide. AZPNBL also has an exclusive distributorship arrangement with HSBC Insurance Brokers Philippines, offering insurance propositions to HSBC Wealth clients.

AZPNBL Life Changers™ are committed to the purpose of securing the future of Filipinos in their lifetime financial planning, wealth accumulation, and well-being aspirations, by offering a wide range of life and health insurance products catering to specific needs.

The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf® | Creating a Benchmark for Volunteerism and Social Responsibility.

Long before corporate social responsibility and volunteerism became a buzzword for brands and corporations, The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf® has already made it an intrinsic mission and company philosophy.

It’s a commitment that they took on back in 2008, when they started the Give In To Giving, 12 Cups with The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf® campaign, an initiative designed to share this mission with its loyal customers.

“It began by taking something that was relevant to customers at the time—the “planner craze,” if you will— and creating something more meaningful that could be an extension of our commitment as a brand to giving back. What spurred out of this intention was a Commemorative Notebook that became a medium for us, and our patrons, to support advocacies in need and share their blessings. It was and continues to be the only journal that encourages more purposeful action towards ones’ social responsibility,” explained Paolo del Rosario, Vice President for Marketing of The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf®.

Customers were asked to collect 12 stamps and choose from any of the 12 advocacies and organizations that The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf was supporting. These ranged from women’s groups, to children, animals, the environment, indigenous people or those with disabilities and illnesses. Completing all 12 stamps meant the customer could bring home the commemorative notebook that featured artworks from contemporary Filipino artists and proceeds collected went to each customer’s chosen organization. The original artworks featured in the covers of the Commemorative Notebook were also auctioned and were donated to the charities. The entire campaign was such a success that not only was it well received by loyal patrons; it also won numerous awards.

The following year, The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf® introduced its follow up with 24 Cups of Goodwill, where proceeds from the campaign were given to its 24 partner organizations. In 2010, for Changing Lives with Every Cup, they shifted their focus on sending scholars to school by partnering with Real Life Foundation and their Adopt-a-Scholar program, where the company was successfully able to send 8 scholars to university.

In 2012, they continued their efforts with the iBuild campaign, which helped raise sustainable housing solutions for impoverished families. And by 2014, they introduced the Brew Your Best Year campaign, which evolved their efforts into giving back to their loyal patrons by helping them give back to themselves as well. Through this initiative, they hope to help each person in their journey towards becoming the best version of themselves. Their efforts through the years prove how a brand can become meaningful in addressing social change.

Is it naïve to expect businesses to take on a responsibility as great as this, the way The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf® did? Not necessarily.

Companies today, locally and worldwide, are putting more focus on developing a culture of volunteerism and social responsibility—recognizing how working together can make a real difference in the community, while at the same time opening up opportunities for learning, cooperation and leadership within the organization.

What makes The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf®’s efforts stand out however, is the sincerity that drives their initiatives, where they have managed to uplift the true essence of what it truly means to care.

Case-in-point, expanding annual efforts to now cover a full year of advocacies. Consistently, The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf® brings people together to participate in various community outreach events. “We place great effort into putting such events together not only for the sole purpose of helping the community, but also to encourage our own Customers and Team Members to spend meaningful time bringing joy to others in an impactful and sincere way,” explains Nella Lomotan, Engagement Marketing for The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf®.

These pocket initiatives, held monthly, are part of the Caring Cup series. And whether it’s a simple story telling event in a hospital, a physical fitness session with public school students, a tree planting project, an art workshop for children with disabilities, each event is designed to foster the spirit of volunteerism and giving among its participants.

In fact, last February 14, The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf® made sure to create an avenue to give love and receive love as they mounted the 'Paint the Town Red this Valentines' event. Volunteers spent the day of love giving love to children with disabilities at AIME home via a t-shirt painting activity with the intent of giving kids something that they will always remember.

“The Caring Cup is a way for us to expand and uphold a vision that we have long established for the company, where we hope to cultivate the spirit of volunteerism in our Community. We strongly encourage everyone who wants to be a part of something that impacts the life of others in a meaningful way to visit our stores and sign up for our next events.” ends del Rosario.

Follow The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf®’s social media pages and subscribe to www.brewyourbestyear.com to stay updated on their Caring Cup events.

Building Skills for Life | How We Can Improve the Lives of Children in Africa

Plan UK focuses on improving the lives of children in Africa by teaching them the skills that they will need to thrive, protect themselves and look after their own needs. These important life skills are essential for young people to learn how to make a living and make their own informed life choices.

Adolescence is a very key time of important transitions. However, these will often go wrong for many young girls in developing countries in Africa. There are 500 million adolescent girls in the developing world and these young women are likely to drop out of school before they reach secondary level. They are also likely to receive a poor quality education or to be forced into an early marriage while they are still children. They are also likely to be exposed to violence, HIV infection and abuse. These young women suffer from complications that are related to early motherhood as well as high material mortality, danger of death in childbirth and other health complications.

Photo credit: Plan UK

How Do Skills For Life Help?
The ‘Building Skills for Life’ program that has been developed by Plan UK will help girls in four major important areas. The first area is education – the program will help girls to enrol and stay in school so that they can learn to read and write and to acquire other skills that will help them in their future. The skills for life also include information about sexual and reproductive health. Many health problems occur in developing countries because young women are not educated about how to take care of their own reproductive health and they have nowhere to go when they need advice or treatment. The goal of Plan UK is to education young women about their reproductive health and rights so that they can have access to good quality health care and advice.

The ‘Building Skills for Life’ initiative also tackles attitudes toward all forms of violence against girls, with the aim of protecting these young women from any danger of violence that they might be in. The work of Plan UK also tackles the issue of household poverty and lack of economic security. This is a problem that has become a stumbling block that is preventing girls from being able to access healthcare and schools. This program supports families in their access to resources so that they can increase their income, such as government cash transfer schemes.

Putting the Plan Into Action
With these goals in mind, Plan UK is devoted to making sure those boys and girls are given the skills that they need to be able to make good decisions in their lives and improve their communities. The project has already begun in Togo and it is improving life for girls in rural areas by providing equipment to their schools as well as support for families and teacher training.

To find out more about how you can support this initiative by sponsoring a child or signing petitions, visit the Plan UK website today.

Habagat Aftermath.

Almost two weeks of non-stop rain. That has got to be the craziest, meanest downpour I've experienced so far. And it's not even a typhoon, mind you. That was just Habagat, or the Southwest Monsoon.

Thankfully, San Pablo City isn't a flood-prone area, and my hometown didn't experience power or water outages during the onset of Habagat. Although the strong winds and heavy rains saw me with sleepless nights and days of paranoia (not having the husband around sucks big time), the little man and I remained safe and dry the entire time.

Nobody expected that monsoon rains could be this destructive. Not the weather station, not the government, and definitely not the ordinary Filipino citizen. This recent devastation left us with almost half of the country in shambles - 70 people dead, more than 20 people missing, and almost 2 million people displaced from their homes and their livelihood. The number of affected families have become quite overwhelming, and local authorities are currently seeking aid for the victims of Habagat.

Photo credit: DWIZ

Should you wish to help, you may refer to this list of relief centers that are accepting donations and volunteers. This list is originally compiled by GMA News.

I wanted to instill in my son the spirit of volunteerism even at his early age, so I asked him if we could donate his old clothes. Without further questions, he replied "Yes, Mom! Samahan mo na din ng corned beef para may food sila." (Yes, Mom. Give them corned beef, too, so they'll have food to eat.)

And so yesterday, the little man and I went to the mall to drop off our donations. It wasn't much, but it was enough for the little man to understand the meaning of compassion and the spirit of bayanihan.

Ah, I must be raising this kid right. :)