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Our Public Stand Is To Promote Our Alternative: Gawad Kalinga

Jose Ma. Montelibano

Gawad Kalinga is now like a bridge over troubled waters. In an environment that has grown unusually contentious and confrontational, GK continues to walk its path more resolutely, a path offering a counter-direction, a counter force.

The bane of partisan politics in the Philippines is that it does not know when to stop. Politics is necessarily about power as much as it is about public service. In the Philippines, it can appear that politics is more about power than public service and is ushering the nation towards conflict and chaos. Thus, citizens who should be concerned about, and participative in, governance have simply shied away to deny the political environment a much needed source of alternative influence.

The very nature of Gawad Kalinga is transformative, and its style inviting and welcoming. Transformative, inviting and welcoming are counter values to the partisan politics being experienced in the country. When Filipinos receive from their politicians tons of criticisms and finger-pointing among themselves yet only ounces of sound proposals, we are faced with the prospects of simply being drawn into taking sides and getting more belligerent along the way.

Pitifully, the innocent, the weak and the young are buffeted by the winds of the political tempest. They cannot stop their leaders from foisting on them one ugly model of behavior after another and can only pray that God will intervene for them. But as we absorb the dynamics of political conflict that blanket the Philippine environment, the innocent lose their innocence, the weak suffer all the more, and the young are encouraged to follow the footsteps of the worst role models.

The leaders of Gawad Kalinga and the elders of Couples For Christ have jointly exhorted their workers, volunteers and members to bravely follow a vision of hope and construct the path leading to a bright future. In response to a stream of concerned queries about the stand that Gawad Kalinga should take, its leadership simply urged everyone to remain faithful to the stated vision and values that are at the heart of Gawad Kalinga. The public stance of Gawad Kalinga and Couples For Christ calls for integrity to the mission of nation building and the tenets of a caring and pro-poor faith.

By their wise and bold pronouncement, the leadership of Gawad Kalinga and Couples For Christ placed priority importance on the plight of victims rather than the causes of aggressors. While there was no judgment made on the soundness, or lack of it, contained in those causes, a preference was clearly made for a more committed and focused priority to working for the poor and their liberation as the chosen alternative to ever recurring political strife.

Gawad Kalinga and Couples For Christ did not evade the evils that afflict Philippine society. They are looking at the worst and most persistent social cancers ailing a whole people and nation – corruption, poverty and violence – and directly confront them through a work that promotes love for God, neighbor and nation as preemptive of corruption, being our brothers’ keepers as preemptive of poverty, and the culture of bayanihan as preemptive of violence.

All those who loudly push forth their views and ask others to join them, at their best motivation, will cite their patriotism and morality as basis for their advocacy. Gawad Kalinga takes it much further by showing patriotism and living righteousness through examples beyond words. The exhortation to all those who work in and with Gawad Kalinga is to walk the talk of faith and patriotism, to become heroes for God and country through their courage and fidelity to the mission.

Gawad Kalinga and the way of life that it promotes IS the alternative that its adherents offer to the Filipino people. GK and the backbone of volunteers it depends on from the community of Couples For Christ  are not avoiding the critical issues that confront the people in these troubled times but, in fact, offering an option as simple as it is radical. GK invites rather than divides. GK welcomes rather than pre-judges. GK gives care rather than criticism. GK builds rather than tears down. GK empowers rather than exploits. GK breaks the patterns of landlessness, homelessness and hunger by securing security of tenure, constructing decent and colorful homes, and planting food for community consumption.

Most of all, Gawad Kalinga makes ordinary Filipinos strive for nobility and heroism in a movement to build a strong and good nation.

God bless the Philippines!
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LOOKING TO THE FUTURE WITH HOPE
The Statement of Gawad Kalinga and Couples For Christ

It is the fate of the poor that is most important to us today, and will be tomorrow.

Once again our nation stands at the crossroads.

We face massive poverty, corruption and loss of faith in the government and conflict in the land.

The current political situation has polarized our society and we face instability that could degenerate into chaos.

What is the way forward?

Our nation has known corruption since time immemorial. Elections are won through guns, goons and gold. Governments are beset with thievery and cronyism. We can never condone corruption but we must admit that we are all to blame. For too long we have tolerated it and even participated in it.

But we are not insensitive to the political tension and controversy. We sympathize with the struggle of our people to rise above our historical baggage of corruption, jueteng and political patronage.

Let the issues be resolved through peaceful means, within constitutional bounds.

Those who have suffered the most have always been the poor and the powerless. They have been traditional victims of an unkind past. They remain the first victims when the politicians fight, when the economy weakens and when disaster strikes.

There needs to be fundamental change. And the time is now.

Change needs to happen not through the machinations of exploiters, not through the imposition of force by those who have power, not through the activism of self-interest groups, but through the empowerment of every Filipino, especially the poor and the marginalized, in the work of nation-building.

Our contribution to permanent political and social reform is Gawad Kalinga. Its development and empowering programs are an effective response against poverty. The Filipino values of integrity, honesty and bayanihan, manifested in Gawad Kalinga communities, are the proper response to corruption. To conflict, the response is to attain peace by building peaceful communities.

To this end, we invite all Filipinos to bayanihan through the work of Gawad Kalinga and other nation-builders. This is our call to heroism.

Though we are in the worst of times, such can also become the best of times, if we pray and trust in God and put our faith in action.

Let us build up and not tear down. Let all sectors of society unite and work to uplift the dignity and life of the poor. With integrity, commitment and sacrifice, let us together build our nation.

BAWAT PILIPINO BAYANI

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