Toll free calls to Bantay-Bata 163 for Globe subscribers begin

PARTNERS VS. CHILD ABUSE. Globe chief commercial officer Albert de Larrazabal (2nd from left), ABS-CBN Foundation managing director Susan Afan, and other executives announce their partnership to save more kids, held at the BGC, Taguig City last Nov. 7, 2019. Globe subscribers can call ABS-CBN Foundation’s Bantay-Bata 163 hotline for free starting Monday (Nov. 18, 2019). (PNA photo by Cristina Arayata)

MANILA — Globe customers can call ABS-CBN Foundation’s Bantay-Bata 163 hotline for free beginning Monday.

This was made possible after the two entities announced a partnership at the Bonifacio Global City in Taguig last November 7.

“I am a father of three, and I still remember the day my first child was born. So I don’t understand why children are being abused,” said Globe chief commercial officer Albert de Larrazabal.

The partnership, he said, is Globe’s little way of making it easier for the needy to seek assistance.

A video presentation was shown during the launch in BGC, Taguig City, wherein the late ABS-CBN Foundation chief Gina Lopez said that the concept of Bantay-Bata #163 started when she saw a news item, wherein a child was beaten and eventually died. Lopez said there should have been a number that the child or any witness could have called.

Lopez continued that many children deal with emotional, physical, and sexual abuse, as well as those who were neglected, and the Foundation thought of a way to keep the children safe.

“Gina would always say, ‘leave the easy ones to other foundations, and get the difficult ones. Among the most difficult is to care for the kids,” said ABS-CBN Foundation managing director Susan Afan.

According to Bantay-Bata #163 program director Jing Castaneda, sexual exploitation is very rampant. Technology is being used to victimize children, and this creates a challenge for Bantay-Bata #163.

Meanwhile, de Larrazabal thanked the Foundation for enabling the firm to contribute to Bantay-Bata #163’s efforts.

The partnership will thus enable subscribers to report and rescue abused children in an easier and safer way, he said.