Foundation donates bikes to PDI for frontliners

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Daily Inquirer (PDI) received 20 bicycles from Angelo King Foundation Inc. (Akfi), when the nonprofit organization on Friday donated a total of 700 bikes to media companies, hospitals, schools, and other institutions.

The Inquirer Foundation, which received the donations for the company, will hand over the bikes to frontliners in the COVID-19 pandemic — Akfi’s intended beneficiaries in its “Gift of Love” project.

Teddy Kingsu, Akfi president, and Raymund Caesar Soberano, vice president of the Inquirer Foundation and Inquirer senior vice president, group head of human resources, signed a memorandum of agreement on the bicycle donations.

“[On] behalf of the Inquirer Foundation, we thank Akfi for partnering with us in this very meaningful community initiative,” Soberano said, adding that this would be “the start of a longer and lasting partnership with Akfi, as we share the same values and goals.”

He said further: “The Inquirer champions causes related to children and youth, health, education and the environment. It has not only inspired action through its journalism but has also … partnered with some of the biggest organizations in community development, in [the] belief that they are truly agents of change that can inspire society to take action and be involved.”

“By our definition, social responsibility is not a cosmetic issue, but one that cuts to the very core of the company. The Inquirer and its partners do it in a rigorous and committed passion, and [that] means doing it right now,” Soberano said.

‘Empowering communities’

Founded by motel magnate and renowned philanthropist Angelo King in 1978, Akfi is a grant foundation whose mission is to provide financial aid and management training in order to promote self-reliance and empowerment among the citizenry.

King passed away in August last year at 94. But his legacy of helping the underprivileged will endure, Kingsu said.

“When he was still alive, he would always tell me, ‘I come with nothing, I go with nothing.’ Until the end, he wanted to help the Filipinos,” he said about King.

Kingsu said the foundation initially thought of giving out groceries when the pandemic hit, because many people were out in the streets begging for food.

“But a bag of groceries would only last for a week or so. [And] since our thrust [was] on empowering communities to be self-reliant, we thought, why not bicycles, since it could help people in their livelihood, especially the front-liners,” he recalled.

Each bicycle donated by Akfi comes with a safety vest and a helmet.

King explained that “when you give the bicycle to the front-liners or displaced workers, this will save them … at least P150 a day, [which] is equivalent to P45,000 to P50,000 a year. That saved money can be spent for other expenses for the family.”

“With a bike, they no longer have to fall in line for hours to take public transportation or chase jeepneys and buses on the road. They could spend more time with their families,” he added.

‘To help more people’

Throughout the pandemic, Akfi also provided face shields, face masks and personal protective equipment to hospital front-liners, as well as cash assistance to victims of Typhoon “Odette” (international name: Rai) in December last year.

In February, Akfi, again through its Gift of Love project, donated air purifiers to St. Luke’s Medical Center, Adventist Medical Center Manila, Philippine General Hospital and Kaisa-Angelo King Heritage Center.

“We intend to help more people soon. We just could not stop because when you step out of the door, a lot of people need help,” Kingsu said.

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