This is the right approach to solving our poverty problem, the GK model of community development where values reform and real empowerment ensures a real exit from a generational cycle of poverty. That “trickle down” down effect is illusory which is why it never trickled down. We MUST go down there and bring them up or else they will eventually bring us down. — Billy Esposo
 
Noynoy, Mar share Gawad Kalinga vision
by Patricia Esteves
from The Philippine Star 
MANILA, Philippines – Liberal Party (LP) standard-bearer Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III yesterday said he …

GLIMPSES
by Jose Ma. Montelibano 
“The vision is to be of one heart and one mind. There is a common consciousness that there cannot be a needy person. Community means communion. People need to work for the common good. They must learn to work together, leaving no one behind. There needs to develop the spirit of good citizenship. Leaders shall be developed according to the principle of servant leadership, and faithful to the motto “Una sa serbisyo, huli sa benipisyo.”* 
The essence is a combination of “maka kalinga” or caring, which is the …

A Christmas Message from Tony Meloto
How do we keep bad things that are happening from robbing us of the joy of the season?
I must admit it gets harder with the years, especially when election is around the corner. As one approaching 60 and eager for peaceful change, I am upset like many with our politics of conflict where millions of Filipinos declare war on one another every three years, breaking up families, turning friends into adversaries, and making the weak suffer when the strong fight for power. Politics is brewing …

Posted by Fredy Guevara
from Gawad Kalinga

As the whole nation grieves the senseless killings of civilians and journalists in Maguindanao, Gawad Kalinga honors its own GK heroes who died in the massacre and remembers today the many GK workers in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) who continue to build peaceful communities in spite threats of imminent danger.
 
GK Sibol teacher Pinky Balayman Edsing was one of the 57 people who joined the convoy on its way to file the certificate of candidacy for Buluan vice mayor Esmael Mangudadatu who is …

by Antonio C. Abaya
from  Standard Today

What has President Barack Obama done to deserve the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize, asks the headline of my esteemed colleague Amando Doronila’s article in today’s (Oct 12) Philippine Daily Inquirer.
As an Obama fan, I regret to say, Absolutely nothing.
The Nobel Peace Prize committee in the Norwegian parliament credited Obama with creating “a new climate in which multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position, with emphasis on the role of the United Nations and other international institutions can play. Dialogue and negotiations are instruments for resolving …

by Michael Lim Ubac
from Philippine Daily Inquirer
MANILA, Philippines—“Walang iwanan (leave no one behind).”

With this mantra, thousands of Gawad Kalinga (GK) volunteers, coordinators and donors paid tribute on Saturday to those who lent a helping hand to GK’s relief operations for victims of Tropical Storm “Ondoy” (international codename: Ketsana).
And with northern and Central Luzon still reeling from the devastation of Typhoon “Pepeng” (international codename: Parma), GK founder Tony Meloto and executive director Luis Oquiñena vowed to continue giving aid to flood victims in Zambales and Baguio City, among other places still …

by Tony Meloto
from The Philippine Star 
 
    MANILA, Philippines – The morning after typhoon “Ondoy” (Ketsana internationally) was like waking up from one’s worst nightmare. But harrowing as it was, it was a defining moment. The worst of times brings out the best in the Filipino.
 
    With my son Jay and friend Benjie, I went at daybreak to survey the extent of the devastation. Our first stop was Sitio Ruby, beside La Mesa dam in Quezon City. Village leaders met us with tales of horror and heroism, as floodwaters rose to the …

GLIMPSES
by Jose Ma. Montelibano
 
Surreal, simply surreal. On a small stage by a busy street in the heart of Boston, the national anthem of the Philippines was sung as the flag of the Philippines was raised. Witnessing this rite were hundreds of Filipinos who were proudly quietly celebrating their Independence Day. 
This scene was happening in the plaza of the Boston Cambridge Marriot, host to the first GK Global Summit. Six hundred GK advocates and over one hundred volunteers from the Boston area converged to commit themselves to their people, to declare …

Telltale Signs
by Rodel Rodis
 
BOSTON – The most popular misconception about Gawad Kalinga (GK) is that it is just about building homes for the poor, an image that may have been generated by GK’s previously announced goal to build 700,000 homes in 7000 communities throughout the Philippines in 7 years. But the 800 delegates attending the First GK Global Summit (June 12-14, 2009) at the Cambridge suburb of this city harbor no such illusions because we learned that GK is more ambitious than that.
 
For three days of plenary sessions at the …

Theres The Rub
by Conrado de Quiros
from Philippine Daily Inquirer

By the time this comes out, I’ll be in the US, having just attended the Gawad Kalinga Global Summit in Boston. I’ll have some things to say about it next week. Meanwhile I’ve got a couple of pieces to share with you. The first is something I wrote for Tony Meloto’s book on the story of GK. Tony deserves every bit of the effusive praise. The second is the Rizal Lecture I delivered before the Philippine Medical Association last month. Lest you …