SM Foundation and BDO Foundation Inaugurates Tagbilaran City Main Health Center

(27 June 2014. Bohol, Philippines) To further strengthen its commitment in bringing quality health service to marginalized communities, SM Foundation has inaugurated its first SM-assisted health center in Tagbilaran City after the 2013 earthquake in Bohol (Visayas region). This project is also the Foundation’s 7th health center renovated in partnership with the BDO Foundation and its 88th Felicidad T. Sy (FTS) Wellness Center to date. 


Connie Angeles, SM Foundation’s Executive Director for Health, said that the Tagbilaran Main Health Center will be offering a wide range of medical services for the residents of Bohol. She added that the health center will have a laboratory, dental room, treatment area, consultation area, family planning room, prenatal and postnatal room, immunization area and Tuberculosis-Directly Observed Treatment Strategy (TB-DOTS) Room. Aside from these, an FTS Wellness Center ward for the Children and the Elderly has also been constructed. The newly-renovated health center likewise offers 3-in-1 PhilHealth accreditation for TB-DOTS, Out-Patient Benefit, and Maternity Care package services, Angeles said.

The Tagbilaran City Health Center serves 103,383 residents in 15 nearby barangays. Last year, a 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck Bohol leaving 21 people injured and 4 dead, and at the same time causing major damage to infrastructure around the city including the seaport, airport, the city hall, churches and the Tagbilaran City Main Health Center.

“The Foundation will continue to bring help to where it is needed,” Angeles added. “In line with this, the Foundation is also strengthening its Yolanda Rehabilitation Program by identifying 10 rural health centers which will be renovated this year.”

These health centers include the Tolosa Rural Health Unit in Leyte; Western Samar Rural Health Unit in Basey; Ajuy Rural Health Unit in Iloilo; Northern Cebu Rural Health Unit in Bogo City, Cebu; Capiz Rural Health Unit; Aklan Rural Health Unit; Antique Rural Health Unit; Zamboanga Rural Health Unit; Butuan Rural Health Unit in Agusan del Norte; and La Trinidad Health Unit in Benguet.

Tagbilaran City Main Health Center now open. (from L-R): Apollo John Bernaldez, OIC City Health Officer; Tagbilaran City Mayor John Geesnell “Baba” Yap II; Jane Censoria Cajes-Yap; Connie Angeles, SM Foundation’s Executive Director for Health Programs; Maureen Abelardo, President of BDO Foundation; Renato Leduna Jr., Senior PR Manager of Visayas and Mindanao SM Supermalls; Emma Linda Ibarra, Branch Head of BDO Bohol Tagbilaran; Leah Lamoste, BDO Marketing; and Rudy Tutor, Branch Head of BDO Tagbilaran CPG Avenue.

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About SM Foundation

SM Foundation is the corporate social responsibility arm of the SM Group of Companies.

Established in 1983, the SM Foundation has been able to help the less fortunate in the communities it serves by supporting their needs in education through college and technical-vocational scholarship programs and donation of public school buildings; health  through medical missions and construction of wellness and health centers; community development through various livelihood trainings, greening projects, spiritual development and immediate disaster response/initiatives; and care for the environment and persons with special needs like those with disabilities, children, nursing mothers, the elderly, and the overseas Filipino worker, among others.

For further information, please contact:

Connie Angeles
Executive Director for Health
SM Foundation, Inc. 
Tel. 857-0100 local 1690
Email: healthandmedical@sm-foundation.org

Date: 

Monday, June 30, 2014