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Friday, March 29, 2024

One Meralco Foundation: Sports as a platform for change

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One Meralco Foundation continues to support Filipino children through different sports programs that help kids learn the true value of friendship, teamwork, and sportsmanship. 

The programs were held in different parts of the country, especially in marginalized areas which the foundation tends to focus on. 

The Meralco Basketboys Program is one of the many programs of the One Meralco Foundation that focuses on sports, consisting of a basketball and values’ integration that can help kids develop their physical and social relationship within the community. The chosen beneficiary of this program was the Nayon ng Kabataan, a shelter run by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) for the socially disadvantage youth in Mandaluyong. 

Jeffrey Tarayao, President of One Meralco Foundation and Chief CSR officer of Meralco, said they want to use sports as their main platform to regain the self-confidence of this kids.

One Meralco Foundation also continued to extend its support to sports through Football for Peace, an advocacy started by Lt. Col. Stephen L. Cabanlet, commanding officer of the 1st Marine Battalion Landing Team stationed in Sulu and founder of the Philippine Marine Corps Football for Peace movement. The football clinic aims to help the children lessen their traumatic experiences caused by the armed conflicts in Mindanao. The event started from barangay-level tournaments between amateur teams trained by Marine soldiers, and then later turned into an annual festival in Metro Manila, garnering support from different private sectors such as Meralco through its corporate social responsibility arm in the form of One Meralco Foundation. 

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 “We first learned about the PMC ‘Football for Peace’ in 2012. They were in need of training balls with which the children could hone their playing skills even at home. Inspired by the noble cause of the advocacy, we donated 400 soccer balls and partnered with Meralco’s Philippine Football League team, the FC Meralco Manila (formerly the Loyola Meralco Sparks Football Club), to come up with a regular football clinic program that would allow the kids to learn from the pros,” said Tarayao.

 Aside from these two popular sports here in our country, One Meralco Foundation, together with the help of Meralco Chess Club, organized the first and second Meralco Tour Chess Workshops held at the Ramon Magsaysay High School in Cubao and Bagong Silangan Elementary School in Batasan, Quezon City, respectively. A total of 180 chess enthusiast students attended the workshop.

A recent campus workshop, included lectures by FIDE Instructor Let Bersamina, National Master Erwin Carag, FIDE Master Paulo Bersamina, Meralco Chess Club President Rolly Sol Cruz, and Meralco Chess Club members Ronnie Dellota and Bernard Templo. The foundation also turned over 10 sets of chess mats and pieces to each school.

“Apart from more popular sports such as basketball and football, we also see chess having a meaningful contribution to youth development. In addition to gaining values such as discipline and sportsmanship, a game of chess builds strategizing and problem-solving skills which we believe will significantly help them in their daily lives” said Tarayao.

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