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| Reference Material |
| A Tribute and a Prayer
By Jose Ma. Montelibano August 28, 2006 On August 31, Gawad Kalinga and Antonio Meloto will each be given the Ramon Magsaysay award in the category of Community Leadership. These are worthy awardees, maybe even more than what the award citations say about them. Because of Gawad Kalinga and Antonio Meloto, grave fears of a bleak tomorrow are eased in more hearts. As for me, I feel affirmed for having caught glimpses of the power of good examples early on. More than a year ago, I shared the following thoughts to friends around the world. Today, I offer those thoughts again in tribute to Gawad Kalinga and Antonio Meloto. The rich are building the walls around their homes, high walls, strong walls. Beyond that, they are propelling the fast growth of security agencies, and expanding the use of well-trained, expensive guard dogs. And they continue to hold sway with their most powerful protectors � the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police. With the men in uniform plaint to their will, the rich are also the powerful. But the poor are everywhere. And whether we like, or not, the way they look and smell, they remain Filipinos, full-bloodied children of the motherland. They may be weak, they may be clinging, they may be subservient, but they deserve no less than an Ayala, or a Gokongwei. And there are a few of us who will not wait until our brothers and sisters are pushed to the edge of their capacity to absorb pain, who now feel one with them in their suffering. We will not wait for their anger to drive them to destroy everything around them, including themselves. We will not wait because they deserve all we can give now, especially our sympathy, especially our empathy. We scour the streets for the worst off of them, the poorest of the poor, the most broken, the most dangerous. We reach out to them as brothers and sisters of the same God, of the same motherland, not to patronize, but to share the blessings that have come our way. And as we hold their hands to re-assure them that they are loved, that they are respected, we walk the path of growth with them, clear the way for their brighter future. We are workers for Gawad Kalinga, tens of thousands of us today who will be hundreds of thousands tomorrow. We are Filipinos, ordinary Filipinos, who are driven by our faith and our patriotism, our love of God and our love of the motherland. In our ordinariness, we stumble and grope like the weak and the pained we walk with. But we will not give up, we will not leave them behind anymore. And if we have to die, then we will die together as one family, one family of Filipinos. There is a God, though, and a motherland, that nurture and assure all who lean on them. We are not afraid of failing, because failure is not the reward of children who are faithful to God and country. We are determined to honor our inheritance, to value our land and make it productive, to respect our brothers and sisters and share our blessing with them, to try and try again until we taste, as a people, the divine promise of Creation. Gawad Kalinga begins with small communities because it believes that the seeds of national strength lie in the vitality of poor communities transformed to become producers and benefactors to the rest of the nation. The greatest liabilities must be converted to their potential - as the greatest assets of the motherland. Gawad Kalinga is committed to show the way. Gawad Kalinga is not a work of charity; it is a mission of nation-building. It is not the mission of an organization; it is a crusade for all Filipinos. There are no walls in Gawad Kalinga, no exclusive entry, no privileged positions. Those who rise in honor are those who do more, who give more, who become true servants in leading the way. There is no other movement, no other program, no other vision of rebuilding a people and building a nation that has presented itself to the Filipino people, except Gawad Kalinga. There is no other mechanism of integrative comprehensiveness, of national scope, than Gawad Kalinga which literally, and simply, means to give care. It is about caring, but beyond. It is about caring and giving that care. We care, and many more do. We dare, and many more will. We move, we act, anchored in the virtues of faith, grounded in the values of patriotism. We plead for all to join, but are determined to proceed whatever the response. We have chosen a path that is designed for convergence, that values traditions, that raises the Bayanihan spirit as a revered native and refined _expression of Christ's exhortation to love. There are now over 800 Gawad Kalinga communities all over the country. Everyday, one or more join to increase the movement. In seven years, we strive for 7,000 Gawad Kalinga communities. That makes a difference, a big difference, 7,000 communities believing in the same dream and acting as one united force. Beyond the 7,000 Gawad Kalinga communities are perhaps 77,000 other communities which comprise the Filipino nation. The 7,000 will reach out to the 77,000, in words backed up by action, in vision articulated by visible and tangible achievements. We will rebuild ourselves. We will build the Filipino nation. To those who pursue their own ways towards the same dream, we have this message. 84 million Filipinos are like 84 million small republics because each insists on his or her own. No matter how beautiful each dream is, we can grow only in unity and harmony, one massive and integrated force with one vision, with one movement, with one leadership. If there is a more beautiful vision, if there is a more powerful revolution with a more powerful army, if there is a more caring pathway, then Gawad Kalinga will subordinate itself to that cause, to that power. But if there is none, as there is none today, then we pray that Gawad Kalinga be our common dream, our common mission. OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO |