As if the past nine years weren’t grand enough, PLDT Gabay Guro recently celebrated its 10th glorious year by mounting the biggest and most star-studded Teacher’s Tribute event ever at the MOA Arena. It was so grand that teachers from all walks of life cannot stop talking about it days after it happened.
The spectacle left Gabay Guro’s 60,000-member-strong organization (20,000 of them were present at the Arena) awed and inspired, refreshed and ready to take on bigger challenges in the field of education. Two public school teachers went home as proud owners of the grand prizes – two houses and lots, courtesy of Bella Vita of Ayala Land while two other teachers were beside themselves with joy having won two vans from Foton. You can just imagine the life-changing episode that will begin to transform the lives of these modern-day heroes, thanks to Gabay Guro.
Gabay Guro Foundation Chairman Chaye Cabal-Revilla and her team of dedicated volunteers worked tirelessly behind the scenes for everything that the foundation stands for. It is in these events where our beloved teachers get to experience the tribute they deserve. Revilla says she wouldn’t have it any other way. “We give our all to make our teachers feel special but at the end of the day, we are the ones who feel so much more blessed. The gratitude they show is priceless. It makes everything worth it,” she said.
PLDT Chairman Manny V. Pangilinan has thrown his all-out support to this endeavor by saying, “I am extremely proud of Gabay Guro’s achievements. They are doing a wonderful job for the Filipino teachers. We plan to increase our teacher-scholars to 10,000 in the next 3-5 years and not only that. We will bring our Gabay Guro event regionally. So watch out for it.”
Just for a day, the so-called network war was non-existent. The biggest and brightest stars from ABS-CBN, GMA-7 and TV5 wore the same hat and paid tribute to the Filipino teachers by serving them world-class entertainment. Stellar names who performed and thrilled the crowd were Lea Salonga, Regine Velasquez, Sarah Geronimo, Ogie Alcasid, Gary Valenciano, Martin Nievera, Jaya, Southborder, Toni Gonzaga, Robin Padilla, Kim Chiu, Gerald Anderson, Piolo Pascual, Alden Richards, Maine Mendoza, Baste, Marian Rivera, Gabby Concepcion, Pops Fernandez, Basil Valdez, Celeste Legaspi, Ms. Universe 2015 Pia Wurtzbach, Andrew Wolff, Marky Stroem, Michael Pangilinan, Jona, May May Entrata, Edward Barbers, Jinky Vidal, Jay-R, Tom Rodriguez, G-Force, EJ Falcon, Ritz Azul, Loisa Andallo, Elise Joson, Jerome Ponce, Alexa Ilacad, Nash Aguas, and Joshua Garcia, among many others.
All these personalities and volunteers were bound by the same advocacy – to honor teachers all over the country for their passion and service. The Gabay Guro Program has grown to be the force that it is today. Whereas in the beginning, there were only a couple of thousand member-teachers under its stable, 2017 sees a 60,000-strong membership (and growing!) at its helm and has easily taken over the leadership, the one that sets the bar of service, in all education-related NGOs around the nation.
Gabay Guro’s corporate sponsors and partners were Ayala Land Inc., Foton, Maynilad, Motorlandia Philippines, Devant, Telescoop, PLDT Employees Credit Cooperative, First United Travel Inc., Las Casas Filipinas De Acuzar, Red Cross, Price Waterhouse Cooper (PWC), Light Rail Manila Corp (LRT 1), New Balance, Enchanted Kingdom, Penshoppe, Filstar, Fly Ace, Flanax, Tempra, Vivalyte, MyPhone, Honda, Suzuki, SGV Foundation Saatchi & Saatchi, Penshoppe, McCormick, PLDT, Smart, Sun and TNT.
For more information please visit the Gabay Guro official website www.gabayguro.com, and follow them on twitter and Instagram at @PLDTGabayGuro.
