The Armed Forces of Philippines (AFP) welcomed some 18,000 “reds”—not communist insurgents but groceries placed in red bags, called angpao—to its headquarters in Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City, on Wednesday.
Each bag contained P1,000 worth of grocery items to be distributed to 400 selected military front-liners and 17,600 underprivileged families nationwide.
AFP chief of staff Lt. Gen. Cirilito Sobejana presided over the ceremonial turnover of the Bag of Blessings donations from Metrobank Foundation Inc. (MBFI) and the George Ty Foundation Inc. (GTFI).
“We are truly grateful to the MBFI and GTFI for including our troops as beneficiaries of these red bags and for recognizing the efforts of our AFP front-liners in our battle against the pandemic and other various forms of threats that our nation continues to confront,” he said. “Indeed, this simple yet profound act of generosity will certainly rekindle our passion and motivate us to carry on with our mission of protecting our people and serving the land,” he added.
Partnership
Sobejana said he was hopeful the AFP’s partnership with both organizations would remain strong.
The Bags of Blessings project is a nationwide and annual gift-giving activity of MBFI and GTFI for the Chinese New Year that began in 2015.
Present during the turnover ceremony were AFP deputy chief of staff for personnel Maj. Gen. Adriano Perez Jr., acting deputy chief of staff for civil-military operations Brig. Gen. Gabriel Viray, MBFI excellence awards unit head Hero Hernandez and GTFI senior program officer Lilac Lazaro.