Despite the continuing challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, Gabay Guro remains steadfast in its avowed commitment to uphold the Filipino teachers and their noble mission of empowering the mind of the youth as it holds another tribute event for the modern-day heroes of our time via PLDT-Smart Foundation’s annual Gabay Guro Grand Gathering on Oct. 15 at 1 p.m.
To be held virtually for the third time since the pandemic hit in 2020, this year’s teachers’ star-studded tribute goes by the theme “The Filipino Teacher: Our Pride, Our Purpose, Our Passion” and will be streamed LIVE on Saturday (Oct. 15) via Gabay Guro’s Facebook page and Youtube Channel starting at 1 p.m.
Just like the first two events were presented by the Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC), with PLDT Home and PLDT-Smart Foundation and powered on the digital landscape, Gabay Guro 2022 is expected to reach out to an even larger audience of teachers across the country and abroad as it showcases a barrage of world-class talents that include Gabay Guro’s long-time assembly of celebrity advocates including the megastar Sharon Cuneta, the songbird Regine Velasquez-Alcasid, concert king Martin Nievera, balladeer Basil Valdez, and pop diva Ms. Kuh Ledesma. Musical director Louie Ocampo also renders his genius to the event with production numbers that will surely thrill our teachers.
The 2022 Grand Gathering will be hosted by Pops Fernandez, Sam Concepcion, Dominic Roque, and Jolina Magdangal. Headlining the bevy of performers are the country’s finest musical artists. Aside from Sharon, Regine, Martin, Kuh and Basil, also enlisted to provide musical entertainment are AC Bonifacio, Sheena Belarmino, Angela Ken, Jeremy Glinoga, Darren Espanto, Nicole Asensio, Aicelle Santos, Jed Madela, Jett Pangan, Alamat, Angela Ken, CLR, MC Einstein, Janine Tenoso, Jason Dy, Heaven Paralejo, Christian Bautista, Jolina, Sam, Tippy Dos Santos, Neo Rivera, Kayla Rivera, Mark Bautista, Klarisse de Guzman, Erik Santos, Jona, Elha Nympha, Lara Maigue, Fana, Janine Berdin, and The Company.
The event is expected to draw in over 500,000 teachers, who can partake of the once-every-year magical experience by downloading the Gabay Guro Super App. By registering, teachers will have a chance to win exciting prizes at stake, including the grand prizes – a Chery Tiggo Pro car and two P500,000 cash prizes to be won by three lucky teachers.
And because Gabay Guro care deeply for the teachers’ health and welfare, the Philippines’ first fully integrated health app with robust telemedicine service mWell.ph is giving away mWellness gift boxes which entitles them to free doctor check-up, their very own oximeter, thermal scanner and vouchers for vitamins to make them strong and healthy.
Gabay Guro Chairperson Chaye Cabal-Revilla who is also the Chief Finance, Risk and Sustainability Officer of the Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) said, “Over the last 15 years, all of us working behind Gabay Guro – the core team, the volunteers, the kind-hearted artists, our loyal sponsors like the PLDT/Smart, Meralco, MPIC and the rest of our MVP Group of companies – Maynilad, MPTC, MPHHI, mWell, MPW, LandCo, MetPower, PCSPC – everyone has been generously supporting Gabay Guro all these years and we are here together as one to give our teachers the tribute they deserve.
“We all have become super close, like a real a family already because we were all brought together by our common advocacy and love for our dear teachers. We continue to support our dear teachers through our many pillars in the transition to the better normal, whether hybrid or face to face learning,” Chaye says. “As you all know, we have always anchored everything that we do here in Gabay Guro to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) of the United Nations, No. 4 of which is about ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and promoting lifelong learning opportunities to all. This is our pride, purpose and passion,” she explained.
The Gabay Guro Grand Gathering 2022 is supported by Chery Auto Philippines, Fitbit, Huawei, Devant, mWell.ph, Smart, Pascual Laboratories, PLDT Home, and 555 Tuna/Sardines, among many others.
Since 2007, Gabay Guro has been empowering teachers across the country through its seven (7) core pillars: Classroom Donations, Connectivity and Computerization, Scholarships, Teachers’ Trainings, Livelihood Projects, Digital Innovation, and the Teacher’s Tribute.
Gabay Guro has built and donated over 55 double classrooms in 21 cities and municipalities nationwide. It has provided 2,174 scholarship grants where 1,767 have graduated, of which 24% graduated with honors. There are also 840 passers of the Licensure Exams for Teachers from them. Gabay Guro has 57 partner state universities so far.
It has also distributed more than 600 computers/ laptops and printers and internet connectivity to 49 partner-schools from 21 municipalities benefiting 38,587 students, teaching and admin staff. There are also more than 5,000 teachers who were given extra livelihood opportunities and access to micro-financing through Gabay Guro’s assistance.
Over the years, more than 50,000 teachers have trained face-to-face in 90 cities and provinces, and over 1,000,000 teachers have trained digitally thru Gabay Guro’s Teachers’ Training’s “Learning Never Stops” digital series. In the last quarter of 2020, through Gabay Guro’s new Digital Innovation pillar, the Gabay Guro Super App was launched to empower teachers as they lead the way for digital transformation in education. Within its first 2 days of launch, the Gabay Guro Super App had over 100,000 downloads, catapulting it as one of the Top 5 education apps during its introduction phase. Since then, it has stayed popular among users with a steady 4.9 app satisfaction rating.
Gabay Guro has also brought more smiles to the faces of educators through the Grand Gathering, an annual celebration of Teachers’ Month, honoring them thru song, dance and raffle prizes. Gabay Guro also has a series of localized tribute programs for teachers, thru regional Teacherfest events, which have already honored more than 500,000 teachers face-to-face in Metro Manila and in 13 regional areas, including Ilocos Norte, Bulacan, Cebu, Butuan, Bataan, Navotas, Davao and others.
Gabay Guro’s efforts have also been recognized by various award-giving bodies in the Philippines and abroad, including the Gawad Tanglaw, Anvil Awards, Philippine Quill Awards, Philippine Association of National Advertisers (PANA) Awards, and the CMO Asia Awards in Singapore.
For more details about the PLDT-Smart Foundation’s Gabay Guro program, please visit gabayguro.com. For updates, please follow, like and share Gabay Guro on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Youtube.
