Paying It Forward
Assured that they would continue to receive their pay despite the lockdown, many Ayala employees stepped up to help others. Jen Galang’s pot of adobo and Mau Barreiro’s face shields are just some of the ways Ayala citizens met the crisis with kindness
Words by RHYS BUCCAT
Comfort Food
Bags packed; plane tickets printed. Jen Galang and her sister were already bound for their hometown in Palawan when the Luzon-wide lockdown was announced.
But their flight was cancelled. The sisters had to unpack everything. That night was full of uncertainties. “’Di namin sure kung kailan uli namin makikita parents namin,” says Jen, who is a senior employee engagement staff at Ayala Corporation. “We just prayed for things to go well in the next few days.”
While understandably disappointed, they soon realized that thousands of other people had also been stranded and were struggling with much bigger problems. Jen watched a news story of construction workers who had been abandoned by their contractor in their Pasig worksite. “It was heartbreaking,” she describes. “How could they manage to survive and feed themselves? How could they go home to their families?”
Jen Galang
That very night, Jen and her sister set aside their disappointment to help the many informal workers and homeless people in their own community in Banaue, Quezon City.
They decided to distribute warm, home-cooked meals. It was exactly what their parents would’ve done in a crisis like this. According to Jen, their parents were great cooks who also happened to have a heart for charity. Cooking and giving gifts to prisoners afflicted with tuberculosis was their family’s Christmas tradition.
Jen knew their parents would approve of their decision.“Papayagan kami. Kasi, sila nga, ginagawa nila eh.” For the first batch of meal packs, the sisters decided to cook adobo with egg for 100 people, which mainly consisted of the homeless, security guards, and food delivery riders.
“Fulfilling siya. Nakakapagod after, pero ‘yong before and during, hindi talaga naming nararamdaman,” Jen says.
““Sobrang helpful ng mga tao ngayon. It doesn’t matter kahit gaano kaliit.””
#AyalaCitizen Diary: Jen, her sister and their friends pack and deliver meals, groceries and other donations to nearby communities.
They did this every Saturday, in secret, until a friend told Jen to share some photos on social media to inspire other people to do the same.
The post went viral, even reaching ABS-CBN reporter Dyan Castillejo, who pursued the story and aired it on TV Patrol. This report connected the sisters to different Filipinos locally and overseas who started sending financial support, which they used to help about 200 people. They bought grocery items to give away with the food packs. Jen also started baking for the kids.
“Sobrang helpful ng mga tao ngayon,” she says. “It doesn’t matter kahit gaanong kaliit. Kahit isang tao lang ang matulungan mo, it counts.”
Pretty powerful. Mau Barreiro’s colorful garters added a fashionable touch to protective gear—and made thousands of frontliners smile.
Most Fashionable Face Shields
Colorful cloth and garters piled over Mau Barreiro’s table. She had been sewing face shields all night, and would continue sewing through the day. “Even during a meeting, I would be sewing, and [my colleagues] would laugh,” says the Ayala Corporation senior events manager.
It all started when her doctor friends requested for face shields. Mau sent them a few, and they gave feedback on the design and functionality. She improved the face mask, but the events veteran couldn’t help adding a “wow” factor. She used the colorful garters sent by her friend and colleague Cathy Ang to add life to the otherwise plain protective gear.
“It’s the most fashionable face shield. Hindi lang siya basta puti, we had stripes. The doctors loved it,” she says.
Mau Barreiro
““Even during a meeting, I would be sewing, and my colleagues would laugh.””
#AyalaCitizen Diary: Mau’s family eagerly helped with the project, and they would gather around the table and chat while they sewed. Her sister-in-law only asked for one Mother’s Day gift: buy her acetate for 15,000 face shields.
At home, Mau organized a team comprising her husband, sister in law, helpers, and daughter who works as a chef in Fairmont. It became a family project.
Soon, more people began hearing about the “most fashionable face shields” in town. The Barreiro family received requests from as far as Samar and Leyte. Even the officers of the Philippine National Police and the Armed Forces of the Philippines were fans of these colorful face shields.
In total, the family donated 18,000 face shields to medical frontliners, local government officials, public servants, and more. The most amazing part of the story, however, is that they personally handcrafted each face shield. “May mga kalyo to prove,” Mau quips, adding that she spent most of her waking hours stitching and putting them together.But this was just a minor sacrifice compared to the frontliners who had to face the virus head on, says Mau. “I would hear about doctors and nurses na namamatay, and I felt sad for them though I didn’t know them. Later on, nagiging closer to home, people you know,” she says.“This is nothing compared to what they go through—the danger to themselves and being away from their family,” she added.
Bright shields, brighter smiles. Mau and her family made and donated 18,000 face shields, which were distributed as far as Samar and Leyte to medical frontliners, local government officials, and public servants.
But even if Mau thinks her face masks are small and simple gestures, they mean a lot to the people who receive them. Her phone has been ringing day and night because of calls from frontliners. “They insist on knowing the donors. They want to personally thank us,” Mau says. According to her, these phone calls of gratitude helped relieve their anxiety and feeling of helplessness during the lockdown. “I wasn’t just helping them. I was helping myself also.”"
“We have been so blessed with how Ayala is taking care of us,” she adds. “This is just a small effort compared to all the blessings we have been receiving.” #
PUBLISHED JULY 31, 2020
