“The SM Group, through SM Foundation, has been working directly with communities to give them the assistance they require, especially in times of calamities and natural disasters, by leveraging our corporate assets to secure resources. We are committed to being a responsible neighbor in the communities where we operate. SM Foundation works in synergy alongside the different business units of SM. We actively engage with affected communities through dialogues, ensuring that our efforts are aligned with their needs on the ground. This collaborative approach helps us strengthen the impact of our initiatives, and we follow up with an impact assessment to continuously improve our programs.” ~Debbie Sy, SM Foundation Executive Director
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| The Operation Tulong Express program was mobilized to assist families displaced by a fire in Tondo, Manila in 2024. |
By employing corporate resources, like as products and company volunteers, to provide urgent aid to underprivileged areas in times of need, SM continues to uphold its commitment to responsible and inclusive growth. To date, the SM Foundation, the corporate social responsibility (CSR) division of the SM group, has carried out 783 relief missions and distributed 982,415 Kalinga Packs, demonstrating its dependability as a partner in disaster response and recovery.
Together with SM Supermalls and SM Markets, the SM Foundation carried out 41 Operation Tulong Express (OPTE) in 2024, distributing over 108,000 Kalinga Packs. The SM Foundation's disaster relief program, OPTE, delivers basic essentials and necessary medications to victims of natural disasters in a timely and critical manner.
SM Foundation continues to advance SM’s vision of committed partnership with their host communities.
In underprivileged communities, SM Markets is typically the first to provide assistance with their Kalinga packs, which include rice, mineral water, ready-to-eat meals, and instant noodles. Additionally, Airspeed and 2GO are involved in logistics. Essential goods are provided by SM Malls through SM Cares, a branch of SM Foundation. Employees of the mall also assist in getting aid to the impacted communities.
Since electricity is sometimes interrupted during major calamities, SM facilities also frequently act as makeshift residences for victims, offering them places to rest in addition to charging stations.
With focus on development approaches in operational areas, SM Foundation also collaborates with employees allowing them to take part in relief operations.
From education to a holistic community service
SM founder Henry Sy, Sr,’s advocacy was primarily education. He believed that it is key to ending the cycle of poverty in the Philippines.
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| Committed to its advocacy in promoting quality education, the SM Foundation inaugurated a school building at the San Fernando South Central Integrated School in San Fernando, La Union in 2024. |
However, Super Typhoon Haiyan, also referred to as Yolanda in the Philippines, struck the country in November 2013. Eastern Visayas and the adjacent areas suffered significant damage as a result of the super storm. For the first time, the SM Foundation made a comprehensive attempt to support the impacted areas. Later on, the group felt compelled to assist with disaster relief. They carried out emergency medical assistance, disaster relief, scholarship programs, public school construction projects, medical missions, housing projects, and even farmer trainings.
Now, SM Foundation has targeted social investments not only in education but in healthcare, livelihood, and shelter.
The SM Foundation acknowledges the critical role that education plays in community development, particularly in times of crisis. From repairing a fire-damaged school in Tagbilaran City to rehabilitating Sta. Barbara Central Elementary School in Zamboanga City after the 2013 siege, the Foundation is committed to reconstructing educational infrastructure. To provide a secure learning environment, it also provides hygiene kits and builds handwashing stations in schools. Over 370 classrooms and 110 school buildings have been constructed by the SM Foundation to date, bolstering regional educational institutions and boosting catastrophe resilience.
Just like a good neighbor present in both the good times and the bad, SM Foundation is ready to assist their host communities when needed.
About SM Investments Corporation
SM Investments Corporation is one of the leading Philippine companies that is invested in market-leading businesses in retail, banking, and property. It also invests in ventures that capture high growth opportunities in the emerging Philippine economy.
SM’s retail operations are the country’s largest and most diversified, consisting of grocery stores, department stores and specialty retail stores. SM’s property arm, SM Prime Holdings, Inc., is the largest integrated property developer in the Philippines with interests in malls, residences, offices, hotels, and convention centers as well as tourism-related property developments. SM’s interests in banking are in BDO Unibank, Inc., the country’s largest bank, and China Banking Corporation, the fourth largest private domestic bank.
For more information, please visit www.sminvestments.com
For inquiries, please contact: smic_corpcomm@sminvestments.com
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