ALKFI managing director Susan Afan and Bantay Bata program director Jing Castañeda (3rd and 4th from left) with Globe chief commercial officer Alberto de Larrazabal (2nd from left) and Globe employeesIN 2015, Unicef and the Council for the Welfare of Children conducted the National Baseline Study on Violence Against Children in the Philippines, which indicated that eight out of 10 children have experienced some form of abuse. Surprisingly, these abuses are most prevalent in the home, where parents and other adults are expected to nurture and protect the children.

It is this for this reason that ABS-CBN Lingkod Kapamilya Foundation Inc. (ALKFI)Bantay Bata 163 and Globe Telecom Inc. collaborated to make the Bantay Bata 163 hotline free and available 24/7 to Globe and TM subscribers.

The number #163, once dialed on mobile phones, connects callers to licensed social workers who are ready to receive reports of child abuse and other child-related concerns.

Bantay Bata 163 program director Jing Castañeda underscored the importance of the collaboration with Globe.

“With this partnership, Globe and TM subscribers can now call our hotline for free, #163. They can call us 24/7. Any time kailangan nilang tulong, para sa kanilang mga anak, mga bata... To all of our kapamilya who want to donate, to report or to volunteer to Bantay Bata, if you are a Globe or TM subscriber, please call #163,” said Castañeda.

“We are grateful to Globe for partnering with Bantay Bata 163. We want the children to know namayroonsilangtakbuhan, that there is somebody there who’s willing to help them,” added ALKFI managing director Susan Afan.

Bantay Bata 163 and the child helpline 163 were founded by the late ALKFI chair Gina Lopez in 1997.