For the first time since it was opened to the public, the Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway (CCLEX)—now the country’s longest and tallest bridge—was lit in color in symbolic stand and support for UNICEF’s celebration of World Children’s Day.
CCLEX is the first major infrastructure in the Philippines to light up in blue in support of UNICEF and the World Children’s Day event.
The two main bridge pylons of CCLEX, which stand 145 meters high in Cebu’s Mactan Channel, were especially lighted in blue on the nights of November 19 to 20, 2022, coinciding with this year’s anniversary of the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
“The strength of our very own CCLEX parallels our commitment to being a strong ally for every child. Our company is one with our parent firm, Metro Pacific Tollways Corporation (MPTC), in being UNICEF’s supportive partners for child equality and inclusivity,” said Cebu Cordova Link Expressway Corporation (CCLEC) president & general manager Allan G. Alfon.
Earlier, MPTC president and CEO Rodrigo E. Franco said the firm’s partnership and support to UNICEF is a milestone for the company.
“This highlights the responsibility of businesses like ours to adopt policies and develop programs that will promote children’s rights. MPTC prides itself in providing safe and convenient roads and highways, and necessarily, children accompanied by their parents who use our facilities. It is our responsibility to promote the right programs that would protect and enhance the convenience of children,” Franco added.
Aside from CCLEX, other MPTC structures that were lighted in blue are the NLEX and SCTEX headquarters in Balintawak, Caloocan City. MPT South Corp., MPTC’s subsidiary for South Luzon expressways CAVITEX and CALAX, lit up its LEED Gold Certified green headquarters MPT South Hub in Imus, Cavite. MPT Mobility, MPTC’s arm for smart and sustainable expressway mobility services, lit up NLEX Drive and Dine in blue. NLEX Drive & Dine is a motorist rest stop located in Valenzuela, within NLEX’s main line.
MPTC structures owned by its subsidiaries join other landmarks, buildings, and monuments in the Philippines and around the world that also turned blue for World Children’s Day.
In November 2021, MPTC inked a multi-year agreement with UNICEF to help promote the safety of children on the road by supporting 100 schools in high-risk areas, potentially reaching 20,000 children.
MPTC holds the concession rights for the CALAX, CAVITEX, CAVITEX C5 Link Expressway, North Luzon Expressway (NLEX), NLEX Connector Road, Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway.
As a company with a mission to bring good life to people, the entire MPTC Group is committed to being an avenue for achieving a safer and better future for children by creating programs and policies that consider child’s rights and safety, encouraging and reminding the public that it is our common duty to protect, care and support children.