MANDAUE CITY, Cebu – Continuing to honor its commitment of helping the country’s grassroots programs, MILO Philippines officially launched the 2025 Active Pilipinas here at the Mandaue Central City School Saturday, Feb. 1.

Rio Olympian marathoner Mary Joy Tabal and Southeast Asian Games champion karateka Jamie Lim graced the program where they lectured on sports basics to young Cebuano participants.

In partnership with the Department of Education (DepEd), Philippine Olympic Committee (POC), and Philippine Sports Commission (PSC), MILO's new initiative aims to amplify the scope of its numerous programs, making it accessible for aspirants in the Visayas and Mindanao regions and doing an extra mile to champion the importance of sports for the children.

“Every year we want to level up and make it better. So it’s an initiative that is energized by our enduring partnership with DepEd, PSC, and POC. This collaboration amplifies the shared commitment in making sports accessible and inclusive for all Filipino children,” said MILO PH Senior Vice President Veronica Cruz.

“We firmly believe that every child deserves the chance to be a champion and the chance to learn the values, regardless of their background, abilities, or circumstances… onto the next 60 [years], let’s continue building the champions,” she added. 

Showing enthusiasm were hundreds of youngsters from different schools in Cebu who dream of becoming the next Hidilyn Diaz-Naranjo, EJ Obiena, and Carlos Yulo.

With the help of stakeholders, MILO eyes five million participants — mostly kids and their parents – to join the healthy lifestyle campaign and promote sports at their very young age.

“We’re really grateful that we are part of discovering, not just the [current] talents, but also the next generation talents,” said MILO Philippines Sports head Carlo Sampan.

“So, a lot of them started with Milo sports clinics, and in Mindanao, we’re having more branches, more sports clinic partners for teaching fundamentals of sports and masimulan na rin, because we all believe that sports is a great teacher,” he continued.

Meanwhile, Milo unveiled its first editions of Barangay Liga and Safe Swim – a drowning prevention program in collaboration with Philippine Red Cross – for this year in various areas on Cebuano soil.