http://sanfrancisco.giants.mlb.com/sf/ticketing/special_events/filipino_heritage.jsp

In Mindanao we visited Manny’s hometown of General Santos City as well as Sarangai Province. In Sarangani we visited the municipalities of Kiamba, Maasim, and Glan. We were able to participate in the yearly Fiesta in Kiamba, as well as visiting Kiamba Central Elementary School. While visiting with the Principal for Kiamba Central Elementary it was brought to our attention how little funding some schools receive. For a school of 2000 students they have 3 computers to use, and this is for a school that has computer education as part of their curriculum. They receive little funding to purchase more computers. According to the Principal, the Philippines allocates schools 250 pesos per student, per day. Yet Kiamba Central only receives a fraction of that, they only receive 10 pesos per student, per day. I am very curious as to where the rest of the money goes.

After leaving Midanao we visited Bohol and Panglao in Visayas. Bohol is the home of the Tarsier (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippine_Tarsier) which is one of the smallest primates in the world. We were also able to visit the Chocolate Hills (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chocolate_Hills), which are another natural attraction to visit in the Philippines. Bohol seemed to be a more affluent area than Sarangani province in Mindanao, most likely due to tourism in the area, although poverty is still widespread.

Our final stop was in Manila, the metropolitan capital of the Philippines. In Manila we saw some of the problems facing the densely populated areas; pollution, traffic, and litter. While riding in the taxi from Ninoy Aquino International Airport to Quezon City we saw street vendors walking car to car trying to sell cigarettes, water, souvenirs, and snacks in an effort to make money for their families. On our final night in the Philippines we ate a restaurant along the Marikina River in Marikina City. The owner of the restaurant told us of how Typhoon Ondoy caused the river to rise over 10 feet in depth, in around 5 minutes. The sudden increase in river size caused all of the surrounding squatters to be submerged under water, some even buried in mud and not found until weeks later. Being in the heart of the area hit by Typhoon Ondoy really put things into perspective, and let us appreciate what we have here in the United States.

Container one is packed and has shipped to the people of the Philippines! Container two is being packed now. I just want to say thanks to everyone involved in the process of packing and sorting the large amounts of donated items, as well as those who donated goods. Everyone in the Philippines will be grateful for these acts of kindness.

To donate clothing please email us at admin@mannypacquiaofoundation.com (clothing donations are not tax deductible with our organization)

In the link above you will see news footage that shows the devastation caused by Typhoon Ondoy.

Below are photographs courtesy of flickr user: omgayeo

The reason this is appearing on the Manny Pacquiao Foundation website is simple, by having Manny show up to the to throw the first pitch, the Giants organization was able to sell 11,000 extra tickets and raise roughly $50,000 for charity. The charities that received the donations were the Manilatown Heritage Foundation and the ABS-CBN Foundation. Even though Manny’s personal foundation was not a recipient of donations from this event, it is always great to see Manny donate his time to help benefit the Philippines and the Filipino community. The photo below is one that we were able to take ourselves, being lucky enough to be behind homeplate for his pitch.

Manny Throwing the First Pitch

We were able to meet up with Manny prior to him throwing the first pitch so that we could give him one of the shirts we made to help promote his foundation. Hopefully you will see him wearing it during training before his May 2nd fight with Ricky Hatton.

As far as other people selling merchandise to benefit The Manny Pacquiao Foundation, if it isn’t mentioned on this site I cannot guarantee that the proceeds will actually be going to the foundation. There is a company out there at the moment that is selling shirts stating “100% of the proceeds will go to help Manny’s charity.” I have contacted them, and for their part they did say that they want the proceeds to go to Manny’s Foundation. However I have yet to get a response in regards to the donation. As of this moment I am going to assume that the proceeds will not be going directly to Manny’s foundation.

Thanks,

Anton

Thanks to everyone involved, 

Anton Mazur

By joining Give2Asia we are able to immediately start our fund raising activities, rather than waiting for the long turn around time for the IRS to grant us 501(c)(3) tax exempt status. Give2Asia is helping us with all the behind the scenes stuff so that we can concentrate on fundraising. I will update the site again once we have our donation page on Give2Asia’s site, so that anyone looking to donate can do so.

Thanks to all those involved in getting this foundation off the ground. Especially Manny, Winchell, Robbie, Dee and Mi-An and everyone at Give2Asia. We should be ready to go with in a couple weeks, hopefully sooner.

Anton