Glory News

One and a half years ago, at the Araneta Coliseum, I witnessed 18,000 leaders of the Couples For Christ (CFC) holding their annual Leaders Conference. There, in a passionate display of collective commitment, ordinary men and women entered an expanded vision of total human liberation in a radical movement for the poor.

A quiet experiment in building bite-sized communities among the poor was beginning to show consistent signs of success when twelve of them spread out in the Philippines were able to sustain themselves with nothing much more that a determined spirit to drive them. The leadership of CFC pronounced that experiment to be the flagship commitment of their community, and asked its general membership through their leaders present in the coliseum adopt it.

They called the movement Gawad Kalinga, an offering of love. The name suggests with fidelity the core spirit which drives the vision of rebuilding a nation by simple caring and sharing. And the results of that initial commitment in Araneta Coliseum in one and a half years are more than 200 Gawad Kalinga communities now established and close to 7,000 homes built and turned over to the poor.

The affirmation that simple amateurs of citizens can contribute to the healing of societal relations, especially that between rich and poor, citizen and government, Muslim and Christian, has become the radical revolution that the CFC leadership is asking its members and partners to focus on in the next seven years. A new target, a new time frame, has been rolled out, and a million CFC members have said YES in a leap of faith and a promise of patriotism.

Gawad Kalinga 777, or GK 777 for short, envisions 700,000 homes in 7,000 communities in 7 years. GK 777 will be formally launched on October 4 of this year and October 4, 2010, is the date of delivery of individual and collective promises to build 700,000 decent and beautiful houses, 7,000 peaceful and productive communities, 7 years from October 4, 2003.

The numbers may sound impressive on their own, especially when 700,000 homes mean 4 million poor Filipinos and 7,000 GK communities mean 7,000 barangays will see how life in the Philippines can be. What is more impressive is that the Gawad Kalinga movement has for its pillars a host of partners from different sectors of society, LGUs, Civic organizations, schools and parishes, professionals and the simply concerned. In its march to reach the stated and numerical objectives, the process of GK 777 is more important that the product. Healing, unity, caring and sharing, these qualities define the movement and will set the pace for the Philippines of tomorrow.

I can almost hear what many of them are saying, those who are embarking on a do or die mission to show faithfulness to their values and concern for the future of their families and nation. The words jump out of their fiery eyes, their passion overflowing from believing hearts. I hear them, I feel them, and allow me to share with you what I receive.

"We have a dream, a dream that beats in the hearts of Filipinos who refuse to surrender our divine birthright and inheritance from God – the paradise of the tropics, the islands of the Philippines.

We are coming from a general sense of despondency which has eaten into the very psyche of the Filipino soul, cracking even the indomitable optimism of a people and culture. Extended oppression of Filipinos by massive poverty, corruption, and criminality has brought down a whole people to their knees and has weakened their capacity to dream. Weakened but not destroyed, dampened but not dead.

In our hearts, we ache for the sunlight hidden behind the dark clouds. We long to drink from the spring of hope, seek to nourish dimming visions of thriving communities, happy families, and productive citizens.

We are Filipinos who have found our dream. We have found Gawad Kalinga, the path of transforming the weak to be strong, the hopeless to be confident, the broken to be whole. Gawad Kalinga is founded on the strength of Filipino culture, on the virtue of Filipino values, and the power of Filipino talent.

Today, there are thousands of us dedicating our lives to building house by house, family by family, community by community, following the vision of Gawad Kalinga, inspired by its values. There are tens of thousands of our youth awakening to their rightful role as the founding fathers of a Philippines they will be proud of, a Philippines they will leave behind as a beautiful legacy to their own children. Tomorrow, we are millions.

We are standing our ground, staying our course. We will destroy our slums and build our communities of peace, of harmony, of productivity. We will be anchored in our faith, guided by our patriotism. We will transform ourselves, and help others to transform themselves. We will hold the hand of the weak, of the old, of the very young. We will not deny any Filipino his dignity; we will not allow any Filipino to be homeless and hungry in his own motherland. We will be our brothers' keepers, and happy to be so.

We will find the sunlight and bask in its light. We will see our dreams rise from the ashes of our historical pain and suffering. We will witness our families live in peace and pursue new dreams. We will behold communities live in Bayanihan and a Filipino people become one and free and happy.

This is our covenant with our God, with our country, with our family.
We are Caretakers of Gawad Kalinga."