Bayani Challenge draws 80,000 volunteers

MANILA, Philippines - The 2013 Bayani Challenge has drawn a total of 80,000 volunteers who completed various socio-civic projects in 37 sites over 33 provinces in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao, making the project the biggest volunteer movement yet in the history of the Philippines.

The province of Isabela posted the highest number of enlisted volunteers at 11,500 with the enthusiastic support of Isabela governor Faustino Dy III, who declared last March 27 as Bayani Challenge Day, a holiday for all Isabelinos who labored for a cause during the five-day event.

Organized by the governmental volunteerism movement called Pilipinas Natin, the Bayani Challenge is a partnership among different government agencies, local government units, non-government organizations and the corporate social responsibility (CSR) foundations of local and international private corporations.

The socio-civic activities covered by the Bayani Challenge include the building of houses, painting of national road signs and markers, tree-planting and coastal clean-up, school refurbishment, medical missions and education sessions for children. All of these were conducted from March 23-27.

 Pilipinas Natin is a volunteerism movement spearheaded by the Presidential Communications Operations Office led by Secretary Herminio Coloma.

Pilipinas Natin said that bayanihan was the nation’s “weapon of choice” in the struggle to eradicate poverty.

The five-day challenge has successfully built and painted 1,000 houses for urban and rural poor, indigenous tribes, residents of conflict-affected areas and victims of natural calamities. The housebuilding projects were backed up by the refurbishment and repainting of 746 public schools and other government properties crucial for the delivery of public service.

A total of 40,630 trees and 20,400 mangroves were planted in highways, forests, tree nurseries, swamps and coastal areas. Bayani Challenge also served 12,410 children who were treated to games and education sessions, while 8,157 residents benefited from medical missions.

Coloma cited the contribution of Bayani Challenge in maximizing the Filipino cultural trait of bayanihan by holding community and civic projects in 37 localities, many of them in the farthest regions and provinces of the country.

The Bayani Challenge started in 2006 with the youth as main participants.

Through the years, many multinational companies and corporations have joined the event as part of their CSR activities.

Pilipinas Natin noted a pattern with most of the volunteer force now coming from sites that previously benefited from Bayani Challenge activities.

National government agencies also delivered in their commitments to support Bayani Challenge by offering their agencies’ resources and expertise as one of many socio-civic projects that volunteers could participate in.

Among these agencies were the Department of Health that mobilized health caravans to different sites for medical mission and education session programs, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources that provided seedlings for nurseries and mangroves for the environmental projects, and the Philippine National Police, Bureau of Fire Protection and the Armed Forces of the Philippines who sent brigades of volunteers in all the 37 sites, including conflict-ridden areas of Lanao, Zamboanga and Basilan.