Gawad Kalinga
 | |
| Formation | July 28, 2003 (date incorporated) |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | 4/F Pro-Friends Building, 55 Tinio St., Addition Hills, Mandaluyong City, Philippines |
Executive Director | Luis Oquiñena |
Key people | Antonio Meloto |
| 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.
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. CFC then 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. In 1999, the 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 in 2000.
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, Taguig City. During this gathering, GK launched the GK777 campaign: to build 700,000 homes in 7,000 communities for the next 7 years, with 2010 as the target year for delivery.
In February 25, 2006, GK launched the Isang Milyong Bayani ("One Million Builders", also known as GK1MB) campaign. It was an advocacy for intensified volunteerism in GK sites. This year also started the GK1MB Bayani Challenge, a one-week national immersion/build. The Bayani Challenge has been held in Bicol (2006), Leyte (2007), Lanao del Sur (2008), and Sulu and Zamboanga City (2009).
As of May 2009, CFC has relinquished its control over the GK Board. Prior to this, CFC, through its International Council, exercised authority over GK; with this development, GK will now have a leadership board and corporate identity independent from CFC. [2] [3] [4] [5]
Citations
Ramon Magsaysay Award
On August 31, 2006, Gawad Kalinga and Antonio Meloto, former GK Executive Director, both received the 2006 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership. Francisco 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.[6]
Gawad Haydee Yorac Award
On October 4, 2006, Meloto received the first 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. [7]
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
GK has also been the subject of criticism. In April 2007, Martin Perez, a teacher from the Philippine Science High School, wrote in his blog that GK has failed in its purpose of uplifting people's lives when it disregarded the Aeta way of life in Sitio Target, Mabalacat, Pampanga. [8] 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, thus leading to the marginalization of the Aetas in the area. [9]
GK also figured in the CFC Crisis in 2007. On February 20 of that year, Meloto and Padilla resigned from their posts in GK. Padilla explained that their resignations were needed due to CFC's failures as a Catholic lay community. Two months later, on Easter Day, Padilla released his statement enumerating 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. [10]
However, what started as a conflict over 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. CFC stood by GK, and the Easter Group decided to convince some CFC leaders and members to separate from CFC, leading to the formation of the Couples for Christ Foundation for Family and Life.
In 2009, as a result of the departure of the CFC International Council from the GK Board, Archbishop Oscar Cruz of the Lingayen-Dagupan archdiocese instructed the clergy and lay people in his area to withdraw from GK activities, because through this development, GK has disconnected itself with the Catholic Church and is now open to tie up with organizations whose policies contradict Church teachings. [11] [12]
In response, CFC Executive Director Jose Tale appealed to Archbishop Cruz to reconsider the latter's instruction, particularly because CFC is still in solidarity with the now-autonomous GK and because there is still interdependence in membership between the two organizations despite the change in leadership. [13] Meanwhile, Meloto supported Tale's explanation; there is no CFC-GK split as "no one has the right to remove Gawad Kalinga from CFC whose members have made heroic sacrifices to create this noble work that has transformed lives and deepened faith." [14]