Helping rebuild communities

MANILA, Philippines - At the corner of Pasig Boulevard and Rosemary Lane is GK Sanrose, a former squatters’ area turned into a progressive community thanks to the hardworking people behind Gawad Kalinga (GK) and its generous sponsors. Currently, there are about 30 homes, with 20 more in the works. Fifteen of those new homes being built have been donated by Hallmark Philippines, a company celebrating its 35th anniversary in the country this year.

According to Maximo Licauco III, president of Filstar Distributors Corp., the exclusive local distributor of Hallmark, the company’s current partnership with GK was brought about by the company’s desire to do something socially relevant in these financially challenging times instead of throwing a party to mark a big company milestone. Licauco thought about partnering with Gawad Kalinga, a local organization that aspires not just to give poor Filipino families a decent home but to also equip them for a better life. From helping rehabilitate juvenile gang members and out-of-school youths in Bagong Silang, Caloocan City in 1995, GK has evolved into a movement for nation-building. This is what initially attracted Licauco to the cause and prompted him to ask Hallmark’s Kansas City office for permission to use the company’s party fund for a GK community instead. 

The Hallmark-GK Sanrose partnership broke ground last June 13, with a promise to finish all 15 houses by September. Hand in hand with residents, about 30 Hallmark volunteers work every Saturday to turn the old shanties into decent homes. Everyone in the community is encouraged to help out in the construction under the “sweat equity” system that Gawad Kalinga has taught them.

“We don’t have specific jobs, just whatever needs to be done – in the kitchen, carrying hollow blocks or sand, we just help to put in our sweat equity,” Marygin Gardinas, a GK-Sanrose resident for almost 10 years and one of the beneficiaries of the Hallmark-GK partnership, said in Filipino. Gardinas, who works as a volunteer at the Barrio Kapitolyo Health Center, lives in GK Sanrose with her husband, who works as a company driver, and two kids. Since they still have to go to work to earn a living, they ask other family members to chip in and help, so that there is continuous work going on.

Beneficiaries are required to chip in at least 1,200 work hours in the three months that they’re building their homes. Community members who aren’t part of the beneficiaries’ group for this project still need to help out at least once a week. “We go and help whenever we have free time, although we’re required to work only once a week. But sometimes we work every day,” shared Veronica Villanueva, a GK Sanrose resident who was given a house in 2004.

Each GK home has two floors and is made up of a bedroom, living room, dining room, kitchen, and bathroom – simple amenities enough to house even a family of six. Licauco says that before GK stepped in and offered its assistance, “their existing homes were more like shanties. There were no aisles, no alleys, it was very crowded. Now there’s some semblance of a community system.”   

Licauco’s enthusiasm for this project has trickled down to his employees. Lai Barrera, supervisor at the Materials Control Department, talks about her experience at GK Sanrose. “It’s my first time and it’s really tiring, but it’s rewarding and fulfilling as it is for a good cause.” Barrera shares that while there are no specific assignments, they try to help out whenever they can.

One prime example of this is forming a “human chain” wherein they line up and slowly but surely get the materials down to the site piece by piece. “We pass hollow blocks through the human chain – it’s tiring but it’s okay because we enjoy it. We started at 8 a.m. and ended around 10 a.m. I don’t know how many we were in the human chain but there were about 15 people from Hallmark.” 

Licauco adds, “We don’t just give them a house, they have to work, even their families, to build the other homes, it’s basically more of bayanihan, actually.”