Angat Buhay Foundation, incorporated as Angat Pinas, Inc., is a

non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

non-governmental organization A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...

based in the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

. It was founded and officially launched on July 1, 2022, a day after its founder

Leni Robredo Maria Leonor "Leni" Gerona Robredo (; Gerona; born April 23, 1965) is a Filipino lawyer and politician who served as the 14th vice president of the Philippines from 2016 to 2022. She is the mayor-elect of Naga, Camarines Sur, having won the ...

's term as

Vice President of the Philippines The vice president of the Philippines (, also referred to as ) is the second-highest official in the executive branch of the Philippine government and is the first in the presidential line of succession. The vice president is directly elect ...

expired. The foundation aims to continue the

anti-poverty Poverty reduction, poverty relief, or poverty alleviation is a set of measures, both economic and humanitarian, that are intended to permanently lift people out of poverty. Measures, like those promoted by Henry George in his economics classic ...

and pandemic response programs started during Robredo's tenure as vice president, which all went under the same umbrella name of "''Angat Buhay''" (a Tagalog word meaning 'improve life's condition'; ). The foundation is focused on four key areas:

health Health has a variety of definitions, which have been used for different purposes over time. In general, it refers to physical and emotional well-being, especially that associated with normal functioning of the human body, absent of disease, p ...

education Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education als ...

food security Food security is the state of having reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, healthy Human food, food. The availability of food for people of any class, gender, ethnicity, or religion is another element of food protection. Simila ...

, and disaster risk response. It was launched with a two-day street party and art exhibit, the proceeds from which were made part of the foundation's program funds. On June 30, 2022, the foundation announced that its first project would be a

dormitory A dormitory (originated from the Latin word ''dormitorium'', often abbreviated to dorm), also known as a hall of residence, a residence hall (often abbreviated to halls), or a hostel, is a building primarily providing sleeping and residential qu ...

for the indigent students of

Southern Luzon State University Southern Luzon State University (SLSU; ), formerly known as Southern Luzon Polytechnic College (SLPC), is the premier, state-funded higher education institution in Quezon Province in the Philippines operating by virtue of Republic Act 9395. It i ...

(SLSU) in

Quezon Quezon, officially the Province of Quezon () and historically known as Tayabas, is a Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines located in the Calabarzon Regions of the Philippines, region on Luzon. Lucena, a highly urbanized ci ...

. In July 2022, a statement by the Ateneo de Manila University announced that a new species of water scavenger beetle, discovered in

Ifugao Ifugao, officially the Province of Ifugao (; ), is a landlocked province of the Philippines in the Cordillera Administrative Region in Luzon. Its capital is Lagawe and it borders Benguet to the west, Mountain Province to the north, Isabela t ...

by Enrico Gerard Sanchez, will be named after Angat Buhay's anti-poverty program with the

scientific name In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin gramm ...

''Anacaena angatbuhay''. In an interview reported in the ''

Harvard International Review The ''Harvard International Review'' (''HIR'') is a quarterly international relations journal published by the Harvard International Relations Council at Harvard University. The ''HIR'' offers commentary on global developments in politics, ec ...

'' on October 22, 2022, Robredo said that Angat Buhay during her term mobilized about a billion U.S. dollars. She said that Angat Buhay was present in over 300 communities and partnered with about 700 organizations.

Authentic Bayanihan Spirit

The foundation's message of bayanihan is clear (with no claim to originality, according to Robredo): ''“Tutulong na rin lang, tumulong na nang maayos.”'' (If you are going to help, help well.)

References

Non-profit organizations based in the Philippines Organizations established in 2022 {{Philippines-org-stub