STORIES OF HOPE. One of the major events during VP Robredo's anticipated visit at the Xavier Ateneo campus, the Stories of Hope was launched on the first day of the first-ever Social Development Week celebration. Photo by Rico Magallona.
Text by Angelo Lorenzo
Philippine Vice President Leni Robredo frontlined the launching of the Stories of Hope Project in Cagayan de Oro City, held at the Xavier University Little Theater on Monday, February 20.
One of the Office of Vice President’s ongoing community-based projects (along with the Angat Buhay Program), the Stories of Hope (also known as Istorya ng Pag-asa) seeks to highlight inspiring stories of struggles and successes of ordinary Filipinos with extraordinary experiences.
"The OVP wants to inspire the people," said Xavier Ateneo National Service Training Program (NSTP) director Dennise Edwina Saarenas-Gonzales.
CDO is one of the five cities chosen by the OVP to feature inspiring stories. "These stories shown through screens will be toured from one place to another, presented in venues like malls and schools to shine light over the lives of the chosen individuals," said Gonzales, one of the launching's coordinators.
The OVP will also be coordinating with the Department of Education for these stories to be shown in schools for educational purposes.
The Statement of Support, printed on a poster, was also signed by representatives from persons-with-disability, indigenous groups, university students and faculty, and non-government organizations:
We, the people of Cagayan de Oro, will generate Stories of Hope (Istorya ng Pag-asa) strongly believing that these will radiate throughout the community, will unify and inspire us instead of living in fear;
We will promote Stories of Hope to neutralize the negativities and misinformation proliferating across the nation;
We will continue to challenge ourselves that real and inspiring stories of people are manifestations of our deeply rooted values and culture on Bayanihan, Perseverance and the Love of family.
Hence, we hereby commit ourselves to be part of creating spaces where voices, community stories and victories however small it is will be heard.
Gonzales hopes that the lessons and inspirations from these stories will ripple in the communities, particularly among the millennials.
The selection of these stories is ongoing. The stories that will be chosen by the OVP will form part of a coffee-table book which will be produced at the end of the project.
One of the major events during VP Robredo's anticipated visit at the Xavier Ateneo campus, the Stories of Hope was launched on the first day of the first-ever Social Development Week celebration (February 20 to 24).
In her speech during the opening forum at the XU Nursing Amphitheater, wherein she witnessed the signing of the memorandum of understanding for the Angat Buhay Program in CDO (led by Xavier Ateneo president Fr Roberto C Yap SJ, Sea Oil Foundation executive director Joseph R Lorenzo, and OVP chief of staff Philip Francisco U Dy), Robredo said: "When we work with communities, we do not impose; we listen. The most powerful solutions come from the people."
Besides Robredo, CDO City Mayor Oscar Moreno and XU VP for social development Roel Ravanera served as other witnesses at the MOU signing.
As the OVP focuses on six areas (food security, universal health care, rural development, public education, women empowerment and housing) for their programs and projects, Robredo pushes to "bring the concerns of those in the society at the forefront of nation-building" more than her ceremonial duties.
The Angat Buhay program aims to capacitate local governments and coordinate programs among stakeholders (local government units, private sector, non-government organizations, civil society organizations, faith-based institutions) who can work together in various geographical settings for a more responsive and transparent delivery of programs and services.
The said collaboration also seeks to engage fifty partner LGUs of Angat Buhay in the Bridging Leadership framework geared at capacitating their frontline workers for better convergence and delivery of services for the attainment of social equity. For Cagayan de Oro City, the Governance and Leadership Institute of Xavier Ateneo serves as the delivering partner for this program. ∎
COLLABORATION. Xavier Ateneo president Fr Roberto C Yap SJ, Sea Oil Foundation executive director Joseph R Lorenzo, and OVP chief of staff Philip Francisco U Dy signed the memorandum of understanding on the Angat Buhay Program for Cagayan de Oro City, witnessed by VP Leni Robredo, CDO City Mayor Oscar Moreno and XU VP for social development Roel Ravanera. This collaboration seeks to engage fifty partner LGUs of Angat Buhay in the Bridging Leadership framework geared at capacitating their frontline workers for better convergence and delivery of services for the attainment of social equity. Photo by Rico Magallona.