“I don’t think one can talk about a child if one doesn’t talk about love.”
It was her immense and unwavering love for children that fueled late Gina Lopez to staunchly implement and promote her advocacies on environment and social welfare and development during and beyond her period in office as the chairperson of ABS-CBN Foundation Inc.
Ever since her father and ABS-CBN Chairman Emeritus Eugenio “Geny” Lopez Jr. appointed her to spearhead the media conglomerate’s socio-civic arm in 1993, she had been successful in extending the network’s commitment to serve the Filipinos through a slew of programs she launched, such as the Bantay Bata 163.
From being a mere organization and hotline that caters for the rescue and protection of children who are abused, neglected and exploited, Bantay Bata has grown into one of the most widely supported causes in the Philippines in the past 22 years that spawned to more life-changing projects like the Children’s Village and Bantay Edukasyon.
However, more than being the face of the foundation that she established exactly on Valentine’s Day of 1997, Gina stood as the mom, aunt, and big sister of the kids sheltered at the Children’s Village, which became a temporary home for the disadvantaged Filipino youth who continue to dream amidst the challenges in their lives.
Attesting to that are Bantay Bata 163’s beneficiaries Raffy Damalerio and Jan Paolo Moreno who recounted how they felt during their respective heartfelt encounter with the passionate founder when she was still alive and imparted how thankful they are to her.
Apart from that, colleagues admired GL because of how humble, amiable, and endearing she was to them, as what her friend and former Bantay Bata 163 executive producer Kata Inocencio related.
The well-loved and revered philanthropist and environmentalist might have passed on last August 19, but her compassion and affection towards those people, especially the kids, whose lives she touched and inspired will continue to have an indelible mark in their hearts and minds for the rest of their lives.
Surely, as long as there are people who have the same heart and mindset as she was, her legacy of creating and providing a safe paradise for the younger generation will continue.
ABS-CBN Ball 2019 will be for the benefit of Bantay Bata 163’s Bantay Edukasyon and, at the same time, will pay tribute to the inspiring and wonderful life of the late Gina Lopez.