"All of us, even our artists, were products of good teachers." That line, from Gabay Guro chair Chaye Cabal-Revilla, sums up the idea behind one of the Philippines' longest-running corporate programs for educators.

Gabay Guro, which means "guide for teachers," was launched in 2007 by PLDT-Smart Foundation (PSF), the social responsibility arm of PLDT and Smart Communications. Nearly two decades later, it has grown into a broad support system for teachers, covering scholarships, training, classrooms, connectivity, livelihood and public recognition.

A foundation with a long history

PSF was incorporated in August 1994 as the PLDT Foundation and took its current name in February 2007. It is chaired by Manuel V. Pangilinan, with Ma. Esther O. Santos as president, and works across education, livelihood, disaster response, youth, arts and sports. "The Foundation has become a platform for helping the country's nation-building," Pangilinan said in 2019.

Seven pillars for teachers

Gabay Guro is organized around seven pillars: scholarships, teacher training, classroom donations, livelihood, connectivity and computerization, a tribute to teachers, and digital innovations. The program is linked to SDG 4 on quality education.

Its scholarship pillar is the most visible. As of 2025, Gabay Guro supported 2,390 current scholars across 57 partner universities. It had produced 2,194 graduates, 681 of them with honors, and 1,048 had passed the Licensure Examination for Teachers.

Former scholar Marianne Cuarto, a Philippine Normal University graduate who now coordinates senior high school research at the University of Perpetual Help in Molino, traced her path back to her grandmother. "My lola was a teacher and she is my idol because I grew up with her guiding me," she said.

The program has also trained teachers at scale. In 2024, it reported training more than 50,000 teachers face-to-face across nearly 100 localities, donating 59 double classrooms in 22 local government units, and supporting more than 5,000 teachers with livelihood assistance. Its Gabay Guro app had been downloaded by more than 140,000 teachers.

Connecting the hardest-to-reach classrooms

Beyond Gabay Guro, PSF and Smart have focused on bringing digital tools to remote schools. Through the School-in-a-Bag program, each package contains a laptop, ten tablets, a pocket Wi-Fi device and learning content. By the end of 2025, more than 670 packages had reached over 100,000 students, including schools serving Indigenous communities such as the Dumagat learners of Paglitaw Elementary School in Antipolo.

"We recognize the power of education in transforming lives," said Stephanie V. Orlino, who heads stakeholder engagement for the group.

When disaster strikes

Connectivity is also part of the foundation's disaster response. During the monsoon floods of July 2025, Smart provided free calls, texts and data in severely affected areas, and set up free calling, charging and Wi-Fi stations across Luzon. "Staying connected is a lifeline in times like these," Pangilinan said.

Why it matters

Gabay Guro shows how a company can build a CSR program around a single group, teachers, and support them at every stage, from earning a degree to leading a classroom. In a country still working to recover learning losses, investing in the people who teach may be one of the most powerful forms of corporate giving.