Smart Communications through its global campaign fund drive help.PH is hosting a forum on the re-establishment of commerce and restoration of trade networks in the typhoon-stricken areas of the Visayas.
Joining Smart in the forum are key representatives from the Philippine Disaster Recovery Foundation, Philippine Business for Social Progress, the United Nations Development Program, Supply Chain Management Association of the Philippines, Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines and the Land Bank of the Philippines.
This forum aims at tapping support from more key industry players and augmenting ongoing rehabilitation programs through a structured restoration support for local finance and market economies.
Signing the partnership agreement on the mobile cash transfers at a forum held at the Land Bank Plaza are Napoleon L. Nazareno – President & CEO of PLDT & Smart Communications, Inc. (SMART) and Chairman of SMART E-Money Inc. (3rd from left), Gilda E. Pico – President and CEO of Land Bank of the Philippines (2nd from left), Orlando B. Vea – Chief Wireless Advisor of SMART (extreme left), and Yuri Afanisiev – Senior Recovery Advisor of UNDP (extreme right). Behind them from left to right are Lito M. Villanueva – Innovation, Ecosystem Build & Alliances Head of Smart E-Money, Inc., Sanny Jegillos – Practice Coordinator for Crisis Prevention & Recovery of UNDP, Rodora Turalde-Babaran – National Program Manager of Pantawid Pamilya Program, Jocelyn DG. Cabreza – evp – Branch Banking Sector of Land Bank of the Philippines, Butch Meilly – President of PDRF, Christine Bunyi – Director of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, and Rapa Lopa – Executive Director of Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP).
During the event, the UNDP, Landbank and Smart also formalized an agreement solidifying its Mobile Cash Transfer Program. The program is a special relief intervention mechanism that covers Yolanda-affected communities, and is a way to distribute cash electronically, to meet the cash requirements of the UNDP’s objectives. Leveraging on Landbank and Smart’s wide network, the program aims to enable beneficiaries across the country to have immediate cash; provide an easy alternative to track payments sent electronically, and increase security of transactions.
In an earlier initiative, Smart and Land Bank partnered to open up mobile automated teller machine (ATM) stations in Tacloban City to facilitate the flow of cash and revive commerce in the typhoon-devastated city.
Giancarlo Viterbo is a Filipino Technology Journalist, blogger and Editor of gadgetpilipinas.net, He is also a Geek, Dad and a Husband. He knows a lot about washing the dishes, doing some errands and following instructions from his boss on his day job. Follow him on twitter: @gianviterbo and @gadgetpilipinas.
