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CAPO
Corner: An update from the President
by Sam Dignadice
Hi all
It's been very hectic from my end… lots of
things happening (from a personal point of
view!), so apologies for not communicating
earlier.
Anyway, things are moving very fast and
our Filipino community is growing everyday.
Very encouraging to see so many positive
developments… Here are some of the
things that are happening:
Gawad Kalinga
In my recent visit to the Philippines, I had
the opportunity to have a look at some
Gawad Kalinga sites. I took a day trip with
Lulu Martinez and she took me to about 4
GK sites around Bulacan. One of them is the
New Zealand village. When I visited the village,
they were in the process of building
two houses. The houses are really beautiful
compared to what was there before… but of
course, you hear a lot more stories too. Like
the case of a family who sold one of the
doors of their new house because they have
nothing to eat! There is indeed a lot more
work to be done.
Livelihood will be the next
challenge.
Last Saturday, GK had a launching in Greenlane Christian Centre. Ancop NZ put on a very good presentation. It's good to see familiar faces on stage too, like our very own Kookie Samin! I was also privileged to sit beside Emily Te who donated a whole NZ village to be built in Puerto Pricesa, Palawan.
I had a chance to have a brief chat with Dylan Wilk. And during our talk, he explained the economic model for Gawad Kalinga. For every P50K pesos worth of materials, an equivalent of P50K labour is
needed to build a house. This labour is contributed by the community. The land is contributed by the National Housing Authority, or by the landowner. And a clear title is issued. (The title is held in trust over 5 years which prevent the new owners from selling them within that timeframe). Once you have created a village, and a peaceful neighbourhood is achieved thru the values formation programme, what was once a slum area, is now worth more than that. Easily, the P100K investment becomes more than P200K.
Gawad Kalinga's aim is to have 700,000 houses, in 7,000 villages, within 7 years. From a monetary perspective, that's US$700M, and if you project it using the formula above, this US$700M will become US$1.4B. GK is probably the biggest wealth creating activity that the Filipino people has undertaken since sending thousands of workers overseas.
If you want to understand this phenomenon a bit more, pls. read 'The Mystery of Capital' by the Peruvian economist Fernando de Soto. And you will start feeling good about this development. This is not the complete answer, but it will have a tremendous impact to the future of the Philippines.
I have also relayed CAPO's objective to Dylan Wilk. (Not that he'd remember of course!) I told Dylan that CAPO's objective is to help Filipino migrants get established here in New Zealand. We want to strengthen each other here so that our own dreams can be realised. I reckon that for every Filipino who gets established here in New Zealand, we improve the lives of 10 Filipinos back home. And even 100 Filipinos back home indirectly. If we have a strong community here, we can even help thousands of Filipinos back home through programmes such as Gawad Kalinga.
NZ Ministry of Education
I attended a meeting with the NZ Ministry of Education and various ethnic groups (Chinese, Korean, Nepalese, etc).
The Ministry of Education is offering ethnic communities funding to assist young primary students perform better in schools. This will take the form of a study support centre held after school. I think this is great and I'd like to hear from people who wants to get involve in this. The Ministry will offer to pay for the 'teacher', the rental of the place, and some food and teaching materials. I am thinking of starting one in Howick/Pakuranga, North Shore, and West Auckland. So, let me know if you want to get involved or if you know anyone.
I will set up a meeting with the Ministry of Education representative around May. Pls. let me know if you know people in your area who would like to get involved.
This is a great service to our migrant families with young children. The can support centre will be open after school (maybe around 3.30 to 5pm everyday), and therefore, can provide after school care to their children… plus the fact that their children are helped doing their homework!
And also a great way of providing part-time employment to our kababayan who would be running the support centre.
Asian Kiwi Association, Inc
I was invited to the 10th Anniversary of the Chinese Women's Association, which is a member of the Asian Kiwi Association, Inc. Norman Latosa accompanied me this time and by the looks on his face, he certainly enjoyed the Chinese banquet! The evening was attended by the Prime Minister and around 8 other MPs.
Asian Kiwi Association is working to coordinate the Asian communities so that we can positively influence government legislation and programmes to include the interest of Asian communities. It's a good thing and again, hopefully our association with them will strengthen our own community.
Samut-Sari
Samut-Sari held a disco fund raising event last 2 April at the Avondale Racecourse. It was a huge success and the room was filled by over 200 Filipinos. They were mostly new migrants, and they enjoyed a great evening. Songs and dances… and the disco afterwards. Congratulations to Virgie and the Samut-sari team. Again, it was a great way of providing support to our migrant community.
Pinoy Golf Club
The Pinoy Golf Club held another tournament last Sunday, 17 Apr 2005. Lance Go won the tournament and you won't believe this, he is all of 11 years old! Man, this boy is good.
OK all… this is all for now.
Best regards,
Sam