Manulife Philippines: Champion of Sustainable Community Impact Asia 2026
In early 2026, Manulife Philippines formalised a tripartite agreement with Haribon Foundation, its environmental partner, and the Corazon Sanchez Atayde Memorial Foundation, its financial-literacy delivery partner, linking the long-running Peso Smart programme to restoration communities. Building on individual collaborations with each foundation, the arrangement establishes shared communities and clear delivery and measurement responsibilities.
Peso Smart, launched in 2017, has reached more than 4,000 learners across 18 schools nationwide. The company’s pre- and post-programme assessments recorded an 11.5 per cent improvement in financial knowledge across budgeting, insurance and financial safety, alongside a 15 per cent rise in coin-bank saving and an 8 per cent increase in price comparison among participants.
A five-week Peso Smart Pinoy programme extends this work to adults in Haribon-supported communities, including farmers receiving livelihood support through restoration activity. Participants are prepared to train others locally, while the company monitors knowledge, habits and onward dissemination. This gives local ownership a practical structure and connects livelihood income with budgeting and saving capability.
By December 2025, the Manulife Impact Forest had planted 31,250 seedlings across Quezon and Zambales, including 5,000 mangroves within a ridge-to-reef approach. Three-year site maintenance arrangements protect early growth, and the company reports a 90 per cent survival rate. Coastal restoration carries direct weight for the fishing and sea-farming communities the programme reaches.
Longevity serves as the organising lens, connecting household financial resilience, environmental health and longer-term community capacity. The model’s regional relevance rests on its mechanism rather than its footprint: a replicable template for insurer-led community investment across Asian markets, in which accountability is contracted, delivery is locally owned and outcomes are measured.
The initiative remains at an expansion stage, with growth planned to 26 schools in 2026 and 30 in 2027. Its integration of education, livelihoods and restoration offers a credible framework for durable community impact. The Capital Finance International (CFI.co) Judging Panel congratulates Manulife Philippines on winning the Champion of Sustainable Community Impact Asia 2026 award.
