Gawad Kalinga

Gawad Kalinga
Formation	July 28, 2003 (date incorporated)
Headquarters	4/F Pro-Friends Building, 55 Tinio St., Addition Hills, Mandaluyong City, Philippines
Location	14°35′26″N 121°02′25″E / 14.5906°N 121.0404°E;
Executive Director	Luis Oquiñena
Key people	Antonio Meloto (Founder)
Website	www.gawadkalinga.org

Gawad Kalinga (GK), officially the Gawad Kalinga Community Development Foundation, is a Philippine-based poverty reduction and nation-building movement launched by Couples for Christ (CFC), a Catholic lay community, to care for worse-off Filipinos and survivors of natural disasters. GK works by befriending and teaching values to the poor and encouraging them to literally rebuild their houses and their resources with the aim of self-sufficiency. GK is a growing multisectoral partnership with the ambitious motto of "No more slums, no more violence, no more poverty", and it continually seeks local and international partners to promote the spirit of community among Filipinos. GK is famous for its multicolored houses and buildings, basing it on the idea that bright colors uplift the dreary atmosphere to which the poor have become accustomed, and this uplifting fosters improvement in their lives.

History

The foundation for Gawad Kalinga was laid on December 26, 1995 when CFC Youth for Christ, the youth ministry of CFC, held a Youth Camp for the out-of-school youth of Bagong Silang, Caloocan City. For the next four to five years, CFC established itself in Bagong Silang, forming the ANCOP (ANswering the Cry Of the Poor) Foundation to provide hope for the out-of-school youth in the area. ANCOP was aimed at transforming the community in the holistic approach of "land for the landless, homes for the homeless, and food for the hungry". In 1999, the very first GK house was built for the Adduro family, also from Bagong Silang.

The name "Gawad Kalinga", which translates in the Filipino language either as "to give care" or "to award care", was coined for a CFC-ANCOP contest sometime in 2000. The contest was an attempt to discover whether the experiment in Bagong Silang could be replicated in other areas. As a result of this activity, 30 GK communities were established.

The GK Build, an activity involving CFC and other groups, was first initiated on February 2002 in Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental, where members of CFC Singles for Christ built 16 houses in just one weekend. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was a guest of honor during this build. Impressed by the effort, she awarded 30 million pesos to GK to build 1,000 more houses. Challenged by the offer, GK finished the thousand houses and built another thousand as well.

On July 28, 2003, GK was formally registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission as Gawad Kalinga Community Development Foundation, Inc., with the purpose of "advancing and upholding an integrated, holistic and sustainable community development program, especially in the depressed areas, addressing shelter, livelihood, education and health issues in the spirit of nation building, to strengthen the development and improvement of human and spiritual formation of couples and their children and to foster cooperation with others in the pursuit and realization of the objectives for which (GK) has been established."^[1]

The first GK Expo was launched on October 4, 2003, in Fort Bonifacio, commonly known as "the Fort", in Taguig City. During this gathering, GK launched the GK777 campaign. Its vision is to build 700,000 homes in 7,000 communities for the next 7 years, with 2010 as the target year for delivery. The slogan "Bawat Pilipino, Bayani!" was first introduced in this event.

For the following years, more Filipinos learned about GK, and the program increasingly became popular. Local and multinational corporations began to engage with GK as part of their corporate social responsibility programs. Meanwhile, GK extended its activities to Muslim communities in Mindanao by launching the Highway of Peace campaign, involving Muslim and Christians together in building homes in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, the Zamboanga Peninsula, and Lanao del Sur. GK also launched the Kawal Kalinga and Pulis Kalinga campaigns for the personnel of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police, respectively.

Following the typhoons that lashed the Philippines in 2004, which devastated the east coast of Luzon island, GK launched Kalinga Luzon in partnership with the National Disaster Coordinating Council, the Department of Social Welfare and Development, and local government units. Kalinga Luzon aimed at providing 40,000 homes for typhoon victims. In February 17, 2006, a series of heavy rains hit the country, causing mudslides in Southern Leyte; GK launched Kalinga Leyte, patterned after Kalinga Luzon, in response to the disaster.

In February 25, 2006, GK launched the Isang Milyong Bayani ("One Million Heroes", also known as GK1MB) campaign. It was designed as a challenge to the Filipino people for intensified volunteerism in the GK communities, which can be accomplished just by rendering 4 hours of community service each month. The launching of GK1MB was overshadowed by the February 2006 coup d'etat. Later that year, on October 2006, the GK Expo entitled "The PoWEr of WE" was held beside the SM Mall of Asia.

In October 26 to 28, 2007, the GK Expo was held again at the SM Mall of Asia, with the theme "GK1World".

As of April 2007, there are 21,759 GK houses in 1,253 GK communities worldwide, most of them in the Philippines.^[2]

The Essence of GK

Gawad Kalinga sees itself as a solution to poverty in the Philippines and the world. GK’s vision is a slum-free and squatter-free Philippines by focusing on bringing back dignity and peace for every Filipino. It is this vision that drives GK to provide land for the landless, homes for the homeless, and food for the hungry.

GK hosts people-empowering activities aimed at building communities in depressed areas throughout the Philippines. GK considers cooperation as a must in this endeavor, firmly believing that not one organization has the capability to rebuild the country, not even the government.

GK seeks to dismantle despair and abandonment among poor Filipinos by building a bright and cheerful environment; this explains the insistence on brightly-painted homes, beautiful parks and playgrounds, colorful gardens and clean surroundings.

GK engages donors to be active partners, emphasizing hands-on participation. GK maintains partnerships with individuals, corporations, religious groups, charitable institutions, schools, and foreign government agencies. The program provides partners the opportunity to help by donating funds to build GK villages and through sponsoring education among the children.

To GK, resources refers to that which has value to people and the community. GK emphasizes relationship management and resource sharing. The work of GK inspires people of varied fields to contribute their talents.

The GK Program

GK provides a Christian-based holistic approach to poverty alleviation dealing with all community aspects that include values formation, community organization and involvement, education, basic health care, and livelihood programs.

Beneficiaries of GK homes are selected only upon their agreement to the rules and regulations of the program. Beneficiaries agree to undergo a 13-week values formation course and provide sweat-equity by building their own homes and the homes of their neighbors and abide by the rules of the "Kapitbahayan" (Community Association) that they establish in their GK village. As a community association they are expected to maintain the cleanliness, peace and order, and upkeep of their GK village.

The current success of GK is also highly attributed to the stewardship component of the program. Every GK village has a Caretaker Team, mostly volunteers from the local CFC area. The Caretaker Team commits a minimum of 3 years of stewardship to the village. They assist in resolving conflicts, ensure construction proceeds properly and that the GK standards are maintained and met until the "Kapitbahayan" community association is self-sustaining. Many GK beneficiaries cite that without the constant care and support of their GK Caretaker team they would have not been able cope with the difficult transition in their change of values and attitudes.

GK Organizational Structure

GK has a Board of Directors of 10, including seven members of the CFC International Council. Throughout the Philippines, there are GK Management Boards that direct the work of GK. Each GK Management Board has nine members, including five members of the local CFC Area Council. As such, the GK Management Board is under the authority of the CFC Area Council.

Citations

Ramon Magsaysay Award

On August 31, 2006, Gawad Kalinga and Meloto both received the 2006 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership. Francisco "Frank" Padilla, former CFC Executive Director and GK Chairman, received the award for GK. Their citation reads as follows:

In electing the Gawad Kalinga Community Development Foundation and its family of donors, volunteers, and beneficiaries to receive the 2006 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership, the board of trustees (of the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation) recognizes their harnessing the faith and generosity of Filipinos the world over to confront poverty in their homeland and to provide every Filipino the dignity of a decent home and neighborhood; and in electing Antonio Meloto to receive the 2006 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership, the board of trustees recognizes his inspiring Filipinos to believe with pride that theirs can be a nation without slums.[1]

The award was given in the Cultural Center of the Philippines, Manila, which was attended by GK beneficiaries, partners, and supporters.

Gawad Haydee Yorac Award

On October 4, 2006, Meloto received the Gawad Haydee Yorac Award "for his outstanding visionary leadership and compelling philosophy inspiring a pioneering sustainable movement of volunteerism to eradicate poverty through Gawad Kalinga community development ministry, giving hope and dignity to marginalized Filipino families, building homes and model communities in the Filipino spirit of ‘bayanihan’, emulating the selfless public service espoused by the late Haydee Yorac." The Award was given by the Manila Electric Company (MERALCO) and the University of the Philippines. ^[3]

Paraiso: Tatlong Kwento ng Pag-asa

Sometime in 2006, GK began collaborating with some Filipino actors to produce a film about the program. The film, which translates to English as "Paradise: Three Stories of Hope", is a compilation of three films, each with a different cast. Notably, many in the cast and crew waived their fees, deciding to offer it for GK. "Paraiso" is produced by Butch Jimenez, Tony Gloria, Tony Tuviera, and executive produced by Bobby Barreiro.

Umiyak Man Ang Langit (Even If Heaven Cries, directed by Jun Lana) is based on the life experiences of Jocelyn Llorente (played by Maricel Soriano). Llorente, along with her husband and six children, were victims of the mudslides in St. Bernard, Southern Leyte on February 2006, and one of her children died in that tragedy. Her grief was tremendous, but in time it was replaced, as GK came to her area, which helped her rebuild her life as well as her family's happiness.

Ang Kapatid Kong Si Elvis (My Brother Elvis, directed by Joel Ruiz) is a happy story inspired from true-to-life events in Southern Leyte. The story centers on a boy named Michael who suffers from rectal prolapse and compulsively eats stones. In April 7, 2002, Dr. Jerome Paler, a GK worker in the CFC Medical Mission Foundation, visited the area where Michael lived. Upon learning of the boy's condition, Paler brought Michael to the hospital for treatment. Eventually, he convinced his family to adopt Michael as their own, and their love for him helped in taking care of Michael. In this story, Michael V. and Carmi Martin played Paler and his wife Gina. Gian Bernabe played the role of Pepe, the couple's neglected teenage son, while Paulken Bustillo plays the role of Elvis, the adopted, pebble-eating son.

Marie (directed by Ricky Davao) is a story based on how a tragic loss can be turned into a living legacy and a new beginning. Marie Rose Abad (played by Lexi Schultz) perished in the World Trade Center during the September 11, 2001 attacks. Her disraught husband, Rudy Abad (played by Cesar Montano), remembered her vow of helping impoverished street children in the Philippines. Abad, a graduate of the Ateneo de Manila University, met his former classmate Mike Goco, a GK volunteer, and Abad begins to realize that Marie Rose's dream can be fulfilled by dedicating an entire GK site for her. This site is now the Marie Rose GK Village in Baseco, Tondo, Manila.

The movie was initially scheduled to be shown in the Philippines sometime between April and May 2007. This did not push through, since Montano accepted the invitation to run for the Philippine Senate in the May 14, 2007 elections. The movie premiered on June 12, 2007, at the SM Mall of Asia, and was made available for local showing on July 4 of the same year.

Criticism of GK

Despite the overwhelming positive appeal of GK, it has also been the subject of criticism. In April 2007, Martin Perez, a teacher from the Philippine Science High School, wrote his article "The Myth of Gawad Kalinga: The Sitio Target Disaster" [2], wherein he describes GK as having failed in its purpose of uplifting people's lives when it disregarded the Aeta way of life in Sitio Target, Mabalacat, Pampanga, he had no wrong intentions, and was doing no harm. According to him, GK did not consult the indigenous people in the area when it went in there, preferring to focus on the non-Aeta inhabitants; as a result, GK marginalized the Aetas.[3]

GK also figured in the crisis that gripped Couples for Christ in 2007. On February 20 of that year, Meloto and Padilla resigned from their posts in GK, to the shock of the members of the two groups. Padilla explained that the resignations were needed due to CFC's failures as a Catholic lay community. Two months later, on Easter Day, Padilla released his article "CFC and GK 3: At the Crossroads of Hope and Joy," where he enumerated 18 points—such as involvement with Mormons, acceptance of donations from pharmaceutical companies that produce contraceptives, gradual secularization and erosion of CFC's presence, and excessive acknowledgment of Meloto as "founder and father" of GK—to support his conclusion that GK was responsible for CFC's veering away from its mission of evangelization of families.

However, what initially started as a conflict over CFC's role in GK led to division within CFC itself. The following months saw GK being criticized by Padilla and other CFC leaders (known as the "Easter Group" in homage of Padilla's article) for its failures, until some bishops from the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines proposed that GK be separated from CFC. Despite this, CFC stood by GK, much to the consternation of the Easter Group. Eventually, the Easter Group precipitated the separation of some leaders and members from CFC, leading to the formation of the Couples for Christ Foundation for Family and Life.

Notes

^ Lipana, Isla (2007-03-22), Financial Statements as and for the Periods Between December 31, 2005 and 2004 (PDF), retrieved 2007-07-25 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link)
^ This is the current figure as displayed in the GK website, gawadkalinga.org; for a detailed though outdated listing of GK sites, refer to Gawad Kalinga (2006-09-30), 840 GK villages as of September 30, 2006 (PDF), retrieved 2007-07-25 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link)
^ Tupas, Cedelf (2006-09-21), "Meloto also receiving Haydee Yorac award", The Visayan Daily Star {{citation}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link)