By Von Belinario
(September 27, 2024) – Teachers are indeed our second parents. That’s in continuously honoring its commitment to uplift the lives of Filipino teachers as they mold the Filipino youth for excellence in the global arena, Gabay Guro will hold a back-to-back Teachers’ Tribute events for this year’s celebration of National Teachers’ Month and World Teachers Day.
Gabay Guro will stage its annual grand gathering on Sunday, September 29, at the Meralco Theater in Ortigas Center, Pasig City. This is in cooperation with the Department of Education (DepEd) and with the generous support of steadfast partners – Metro Pacific Investments Corporation (MPIC), PLDT Inc.(PLDT), and mWell through Metro Pacific Investments Foundation (MPIF) and PLDT-Smart Foundation (PSF).
This year’s theme “Teachers Inspiring Change, Building the Country’s Future” will feature a star-studded event led by A-list performers like Regine Velasquez-Alcasid, Pops Fernandez, Martin Nievera, Gabby Concepcion, Randy Santiago, Jed Madela, Jona, Kuh Ledesma, Zsa Zsa Padilla, Mark Bautista, and Megastar Sharon Cuneta.
During the recent media conference, Velasquez-Alcasid shared why she loved participating in the said tribute every year. She has been doing this since the activity started 17 years ago. She sang “Believing in Me,” the theme song of Gabay Guro. She was inspired by the scholarship provided to college students who wanted to be teachers.
“Mayroon silang two years to teach here or kung saang probinsya sila galing then they can do whatever they want, but normally, nag-i-stay because they loved what they do,” said Velasquez-Alcasid.
Now that she’s a mother, the “Asia’s Song Bird,” she can assure that her son, Nate is in good hands because of his teachers.
“Na-realize ko na Nate going to school, kalahati ng buhay niya iyon ‘di ba? Talagang iyong mga teacher, second parents na nila, so the role of the teacher is very important sa paglaki ng mga anak natin,” she added.
Gabby Concepcion, who was also in the mediacon, said he has been supporting the activity for almost 10 years. The core was closed to her because her mother was also a teacher.
“Noong nalaman ko iyon sabi ko pasok na pasok talaga ito dahil nakaka-relate ako rito. When I said family, ang feeling ko sa mga teachers parang pamilya ko talaga. Para akong napapagalitan nila, naaalala ko iyon noong bata pa, napagsasabihan ka,” said Concepcion.
Teachers can expect premium giveaways and raffle prizes through the support of different brands and companies. Event registration, which qualifies the teachers to join the raffle, is now ongoing via the Gabay Guro official Facebook page. Meanwhile, teachers may get in touch with their local DepEd divisions for invitations to the face-to-face event at the Meralco Theatre.
The following week, Gabay Guro will hold its first ever holistic health and wellness festival for teachers, the Gabay Guro Wellness Fest, on Sunday, October 6, 2024 at the Ynares Sports Arena in Shaw Boulevard, Pasig City.
Under the umbrella of Gabay Guro’s Health and Wellness pillar, the event will be staged in cooperation with mWell, the country’s first fully integrated, fully digital health and wellness platform. It promises to be a day full of fun and informative sessions as mWell leads the teachers’ journey towards a healthier and well-balanced lifestyle through affordable access to healthcare anytime, anywhere. Teachers can explore the gathering of wellness services and experiential booths on fitness, food and nutrition, wearables, mind health, and telemedicine. Renowned wellness experts, athletes, and celebrities are also expected to grace the event. It will also highlight a special zumba session with top Youtube Zumba Group, the TML Crew, to kickstart the teachers’ wellness journey.
Livestream via the Gabay Guro FB page and Youtube channel will be available for teachers who cannot join the face-to-face events in Meralco Theatre and Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig City.
About Gabay Guro
Now on its 17th year, Gabay Guro is the flagship education program of Metro Pacific Investments Corporation (MPIC), Metro Pacific Investments Foundation (MPIF), and PLDT-Smart Foundation (PSF) in partnership with the PLDT Managers’ Club Inc. Gabay Guro continues to affirm its commitment to the Department of Education to help uplift the lives of teachers so that they can continue to focus on what matters most – honing their skills and fueling their passion towards the improved quality of education in the Philippines.
Since 2007, it has been empowering teachers across the country through its 8 Key Pillars of Learning, which were all identified to reinforce PLDT and Smart’s commitment to the United Nations’ Sustainability Development Goals (SDG), particularly UN SDG #4 Quality Education.
Aside from hosting the annual Grand Gathering and Regional Teacher fests through the Teachers’ Tribute pillar, Gabay Guro has already proudly supported more than 3,000 scholars pursuing a degree in education (Scholarships), provided more than 1000 laptops, digital accessories, and broadband connectivity to over 70 partner schools in 29 municipalities (Connectivity and Computerization), donated 59 double classrooms to 22 beneficiary cities and municipalities (Classroom Donations), trained over 50,000 teachers through face-to-face seminar-workshops in almost 100 localities around the country (Teachers’ Training), given over 5,000 teachers and their families access to various livelihood and entrepreneurship initiatives (Livelihood), launched the Gabay Guro Super App which has already been downloaded by more than 140,000 teachers nationwide (Digital Innovations), and partnered with mWell to make the country’s first fully integrated, fully digital health and wellness app easily available for teachers (Health and Wellness).
For more information on Gabay Guro and its initiatives, please visit, like, and follow the Gabay Guro website (gabayguro.com) and Facebook page (facebook.com/gabayguro), as well as its Instagram and X accounts.
(PB)
