Dreams need infra
None of this happens without classrooms, and SM Foundation has been investing in those, too. The group has built 116 school buildings so far, including new facilities completed this year in Tagbilaran City, Tagum City and Iligan City. The idea, Pe-Sy said, is to make sure students have not just the financial support to stay in school, but functioning, modern spaces to learn in.
The Foundation has also been trying to connect its scholars more directly to the job market. Early in 2025, it launched the SM Job Opportunities Building Skills (J.O.B.S.) initiative, which combines skills training with job fairs and industry partnerships to help graduates find work faster.
In October, it introduced a second program called Future-READY, Now!, developed with IBM, Asia Pacific College, and various SM Group business units. Through it, scholars can access more than 1,000 online courses and earn globally recognized credentials through IBM’s SkillsBuild platform, which prepares them for jobs that increasingly require digital skills.
SM Foundation’s 2025 report also highlighted work outside of education. The group partnered with the Philippine Red Cross to open a new blood laboratory to speed up testing and improve the donor experience. It rehabilitated the Laoag Health Center, which now functions as a primary care and birthing facility, and the Putik Health Center in Zamboanga City, which the Foundation says now serves more than 23,000 residents.
The Foundation also expanded DigiKonsulta, its telemedicine platform, to more health centers nationwide, and joined Watsons, Unilab, and the Lapu-Lapu City government on a medical mission that reached over 800 residents in disaster-affected parts of Cebu. Since the Medical Mission program began in 2001, SM Foundation says it has completed more than 1,700 missions and treated over 1.3 million patients nationwide.
For Pe-Sy, the numbers point back to individual stories like Rica’s. As a newly licensed CPA, Rica said she hopes to eventually mentor other young Filipinos from backgrounds like hers, encouraging them to see education as a way out of financial hardship, as it was for her.
“None of this would be possible without our colleagues, partners, donors, volunteers and communities whose trust and support inspire us to keep creating meaningful change,” Pe-Sy said, adding that the Foundation plans to keep scaling its programs and deepening its partnerships in the years ahead.
For families like the Marbebes, who once struggled to scrape together bus fare for a hospital visit, that promise now carries a very concrete meaning.
