Recognizing its role in effecting positive change for communities in need, integrated telecommunications company PLDT Inc. (PLDT), together with its wireless subsidiary Smart Communications Inc. (Smart), is empowering its customers nationwide to support meaningful programs this season.

For its holiday initiatives for brands PLDT Home and Smart Signature, the telco group is enabling its customers through a donation component that converges support for local livelihood, climate action, and the protection of children on the Internet. This comes in light of the impact of recent typhoons that hit local communities, as well as the continuously rising cases of online sexual abuse and exploitation of children (OSAEC) in the Philippines.

“For every new postpaid line activation or account retention at any of our participating stores, PLDT and Smart would pledge support to special causes on behalf of our customers. As a token of our shared donation, our customer gets an eco-friendly set of goodies that consist of an upcycled flour sack bag and a biodegradable tag that can grow seeds,” explained Jacqueline Bocalan, head of Trade Marketing Department Head for Smart.

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To facilitate this program, PLDT and Smart collaborated with Kids for Kids, a youth-led organization under sustainability and creative change agency TAYO that champions children’s rights and marries creativity and sustainability for positive change. Proceeds go to supporting the livelihood and cultural identity of local embroiderers from the Hand Embroidery Capital of the Philippines in Lumban, Laguna, in cooperation with social enterprise Sariwa, and to the barangay-based programs of the SaferKidsPH consortium of Unicef, Save the Children, and Asia Foundation to end online sexual abuse and exploitation of children (OSAEC) in the country.

“Kids for Kids has been working toward bridging the gap between corporations, like PLDT and Smart, and changemakers to champion children’s rights especially the right of every child to a safe environment. We believe in using the Filipino spirit of Bayanihan to connect communities and create value-adding campaigns that benefit both people and the planet,” said Natasha and Isabella Tanjutco, founders, Kids for Kids

PLDT and Smart, through their collaboration platform Better Today, have also been working with Kids for Kids to craft a stream of content that aims to raise awareness on child online protection and youth-led initiatives to end OSAEC.