ENGAGE UP

[𝗗𝗢𝗡𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡 𝗨𝗣𝗗𝗔𝗧𝗘𝗦 | 𝗞𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗮𝗻𝗴 𝗜𝘀𝗸𝗼’𝘁 𝗜𝘀𝗸𝗮]

We’ve successfully turned over the in-kind donations from Michelle David, including clothes mostly for kids with a few for adults, toys, shoes, a few kitchen items, and used books, to our partner community at the Claretian Theology House. These will be included in our ongoing Christmas and relief distributions for vulnerable communities, especially those most at risk during disasters.

Maraming salamat, Michelle, for choosing to stand in solidarity with affected families. Your generosity helps bring comfort, warmth, and dignity to communities as they recover and rebuild.

Donation lines remain open:

For monetary donations:
Maya Bank, Inc.
09204628919

Land Bank of the Philippines
1896393150

For in-kind donations:
Proclade-Pilipinas Foundation, Inc.
Mayumi St., Diliman, UP Village, Quezon City

ICLA Philippines
526 Tandang Sora Ave., Quezon City
Please coordinate with us for a smoother drop-off.

You may also help by sharing this post and encouraging others to contribute.

Proclade-Pilipinas Foundation, Inc. is our partner for Kalingang Isko't Iska. Our collected donations were given to them to be distributed to different parts of the country. The benefeciaries are from the marginalized sectors of our society like urban poor, Indigenous People, and persons with street dwelling situation.

Continue to support our mission to reach to our communities.

In the wake of Typhoon Tino (Kalmaegi) and Super Typhoon Uwan (Fung-wong), many of our brothers and sisters were left struggling to rebuild their lives.

Through the generous support of collaborators and benefactors to OPLAN GINHAWA, the SOLIDARITY and MISSION Team of the Claretian Missionaries in the Philippines and Proclade-Pilipinas were able to mobilize an immediate response. We focused our efforts on the most vulnerable, specifically those whose homes were destroyed.

We are pleased to report that the donations we have received translated into tangible relief for 41 families with totally damaged houses in Panay, Catanduanes. Here is the breakdown of the assistance we were able to provide:
• Financial Assistance: To help families purchase construction materials or other immediate necessities, we distributed cash grants based on the severity of their needs.
o 11 families received Php 5,000.00 each.
o 30 families received Php 2,000.00 each.
• Sustenance and Nutrition: We distributed comprehensive food packs designed to provide distinct relief from hunger. Each pack included:
o 8 kgs of Rice
o 1 kg of Pork
o 1 Tray of Eggs
o Assorted essential grocery items
• Holistic Care: Our team facilitated psychosocial and spiritual interventions, providing a space for survivors to process their trauma, find strength in their faith, and regain their sense of dignity because we know that rebuilding requires more than just materials.

Thank you for being a true channel of ginhawa (comfort). Your contribution has truly become a breath of God’s love to those who needed it most.

A big thank you to the following (partial list) for their kindness and generosity

Arnold Abelardo
AKO ANG SAKLAY INC. A Pastoral Care of the Sick
ENGAGE UP
Ms. Tsai Ying Hwa
Students, Teachers, Faculty and Staff of Blessed Imelda School, NingShia Road,Taipei, Taiwan ROC thru Fr. Bobin Punnackapadavil, CMF
Eleanor Trinchera
Rosario Patacsil
Alorico Dizon
Parishioners of Holy Family Parish thru Fr Joseph Hung, CMF
Rence Fradel Nazarrea
CFCA Mission Group
Mrs. Lilibeth Efondo
Ms. Perly Corloncito
Ms. Thalitz Canelas
Ray Dominic Efondo
Mrs. Aura Albano Abiera
Ms. Yolanda Abellana
Eucharistic Choir
Mr. Rector Brizuela and Rolly Ferrer
Mr. Abet and Tess Magtanong
Emy Perrin
BFF Arlene, Flora and Shemida
Mrs Cynthia Rondina
Hon Joel Aton & Family
Arleen Albano Alman
Aleli B. Clary

This phase of relief is far from being complete and our work continues. As of the moment, our SOMI team is currently planning to do a follow-up visit in Catanduanes and is preparing to bring Christmas food packs to the isolated families on Pilar Island, Camotes, Cebu.

You may send your financial assistance directly to the Proclade-Pilipinas Foundation Inc. via the following account:
Bank: Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI)
Account Name: PROCLADE-PILIPINAS FOUNDATION INC.
Account Number: 1993-2032-26
Swift Code: BOPIPHMM

[UNITY STATEMENT] 𝙁𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙋𝙪𝙗𝙡𝙞𝙘 𝙁𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙉𝙖𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙖𝙡 𝙍𝙚𝙨𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙘𝙚𝙨: 𝙀𝙉𝘿 𝘼𝙇𝙇 𝙁𝙊𝙍𝙈𝙎 𝙊𝙁 𝙋𝙇𝙐𝙉𝘿𝙀𝙍!

More than 20 organizations and 60+ individuals stand against environmental destruction and systemic corruption. Together, let us continue to fight for our environment and ensure that justice, accountability, and sustainability prevails in our country.

𝙐𝙣𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙎𝙩𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙀𝙣𝙫𝙞𝙧𝙤𝙣𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙡 𝘿𝙚𝙛𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙨, 𝙎𝙘𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝘼𝙙𝙫𝙤𝙘𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝘾𝙤𝙢𝙢𝙪𝙣𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙚𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙎𝙤𝙪𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙣 𝙏𝙖𝙜𝙖𝙡𝙤𝙜 𝙖𝙜𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙩 𝙀𝙣𝙫𝙞𝙧𝙤𝙣𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙡 𝘿𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙪𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙎𝙮𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙢𝙞𝙘 𝘾𝙤𝙧𝙧𝙪𝙥𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣

We, the environmental defenders, science advocates and professionals, and communities of Southern Tagalog, stand firm that protecting the environment is impossible without fighting corruption. We stand together to protect our lands, waters, forests, and livelihoods from corruption and harmful development. Corrupt practices, like bribery, permit manipulation, and silencing of communities, have allowed mining, illegal logging, land conversion, reclamation, and industrial projects to destroy ecosystems, displace Indigenous Peoples, harm livelihoods, worsen floods, and poison our waters.

Across Southern Tagalog, communities are confronting an alarming surge of destructive projects that threaten our ecosystems and livelihoods—from the cyanide-based gold mining plans of Egerton and the underground extraction proposed by Bluebird Merchant Ventures in Lobo; to massive dredging and seabed quarrying in Cavite and Tayabas Bay; to destructive dams in the Sierra Madre, Pakil, and the Wawa watershed. Industrial threats persist through the Atimonan Power Station, the expansion of LNG and geothermal facilities around Batangas Bay. Large-scale quarrying operations across Rizal, Quezon, and Batangas continue to degrade forests, waterways, and upland communities, while windmill projects in Mindoro, Batangas, and Quezon displace residents—particularly national minority groups—and threaten critical habitats under the guise of “green” development. Laguna de Bay faces floating solar installations and road network projects that imperil fisheries and vulnerable species, while Sibuyan Island and South Palawan endure intensified nickel mining.
These cases reveal a clear pattern of environmental destruction, community displacement, and corruption, underscoring the urgent need for regional unity and collective action to defend our lands and waters.
Our lands and waters are not for sale. Our future cannot be bought. We commit to safeguarding Southern Tagalog’s natural treasures, from vital watersheds and coastlines to mountains and biodiversity hotspots, for current and future generations.

We call on the DENR to be accountable for enabling destructive projects across our region. The agency should stop serving corporate interests and start defending the people and environment it is sworn to protect.
We call for the urgent passage of strong anti-corruption and anti-political dynasty legislation to dismantle the entrenched systems that allow abuse of power and plunder of public resources. These reforms must go hand in hand with genuine accountability for high-ranking officials and all other public officials implicated in corruption—who must not remain above the law. Only by ending impunity at the highest levels of government can we pave the way for transparent governance, protect our communities from exploitation, and reclaim our democratic institutions for the people.

Together, we urge the public, civil society, and government leaders to enforce science- and community-based environmental laws, halt destructive projects, protect community and environmental defenders through upholding transparency, social justice and ending the culture of impunity and systematic corruption. With these, we can stop exploitation, defend our heritage, and secure a just and sustainable future for all.

𝗘𝗡𝗚𝗜𝗡𝗘𝗘𝗥𝗦, 𝗕𝗨𝗜𝗟𝗗 𝗔 𝗦𝗨𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗜𝗡𝗔𝗕𝗟𝗘 𝗦𝗢𝗖𝗜𝗘𝗧𝗬 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗙𝗜𝗟𝗜𝗣𝗜𝗡𝗢 𝗣𝗘𝗢𝗣𝗟𝗘

ENGAGE UP stands in solidarity with the November 30 Bonifacio Day mobilization and asserts that the revolution begun by Andres Bonifacio remains unfinished as long as corruption continues to function as a man-made disaster against the Filipino people. In a country already on the frontlines of the climate crisis, corruption is embedded in the entire project cycle: from feasibility studies and detailed design, to procurement, construction, inspection, and maintenance. It systematically weakens the infrastructure that should protect communities.

Recent typhoons such as Typhoon Tino and Super Typhoon Uwan show in concrete terms how natural hazards turn into large-scale failures of the built environment. Typhoon Tino left at least 269 people dead, 523 injured, and 113 missing in the Philippines, affected almost 2 million people, and displaced more than 560,000, with severe flooding in Cebu and other parts of the Visayas damaging large numbers of houses, knocking out power to about 1.4 million households, and rendering multiple roads and bridges impassable. Super Typhoon Uwan then affected around 7.6 million people, displaced roughly 1.4 million at the height of the storm, damaged hundreds of thousands of houses, caused widespread power outages, and again left roads and bridges closed by floods and landslides. These figures reflect not only the intensity of the storms but also chronic weaknesses in how projects are sited, designed, constructed, and maintained, and in how hazard and risk assessments are applied in practice.

Corruption does not only slow down infrastructure delivery. It distorts engineering decisions at every stage. Project scopes are inflated, feasibility studies are tailored to justify predetermined projects, and value engineering is misused to cut safety margins instead of optimizing performance. Funds meant for hospitals, schools, social housing, transport systems, water supply, sanitation, flood control, coastal protection, and early warning systems are diverted through overpricing, substandard materials, and ghost projects. The consequence is not just budget loss. It is reduced structural integrity, lower factors of safety, inadequate design lifespans, and higher failure probabilities that translate into deaths, injuries, displacement, and long-term poverty.

This system is maintained by the collaboration of public officials and private business interests. Contractors, developers, consultants, banks, and corporations treat public works as low-risk, high-return investments. ENGAGE UP condemns not only those in government who approve these schemes, but also the engineers, planners, consultants, technical experts, and scholars who design, sign, and legitimize defective and harmful projects. Fraudulent structural analyses, incomplete geotechnical investigations, manipulated hydrologic and hydraulic models, and environmental impact assessments written to favor a client are not minor technical issues. They are steps that produce underspecified bridges, undercapacity drainage networks, unstable slopes, and unsafe buildings.

In the context of the climate crisis, the margin for error is small. A bridge designed with inadequate load and scour calculations, a seawall that does not match projected storm surge heights, a school building that does not comply with seismic and wind codes, or a relocation site sited in a known hazard zone can result in immediate casualties. When science, technology, and engineering are subordinated to corruption and profit, they no longer function as tools for risk reduction. They become part of the risk.

As Iskolar ng Bayan, we are being trained to work inside these systems. Our motto, Honor and Excellence, has no real meaning if our skills are used mainly for corporations, political dynasties, or foreign interests. An engineer who signs off on an unsafe design, a scientist who adjusts data and models to legitimize harmful projects, a planner who ignores social and environmental impact assessments, or a manager who pressures staff to accept noncompliance is directly responsible for the resulting failures.

We call on students, faculty, and alumni to refuse work and research that clearly harm communities. Question and, when necessary, withdraw from projects that ignore building codes, hazard maps, and safety standards. Insist on transparency in project preparation and procurement, meaningful community participation in planning and site selection, and technical and financial accountability in all stages of design, construction, and operation, whether in government, private firms, or international institutions. Those most affected by floods, storms, heat, and displacement must have a real role in decisions about the infrastructure built around them.

Science, technology, and engineering must be taken out of the grip of profit and patronage and directed toward the needs of the people and a just, livable climate future. We call on all Iskolar ng Bayan to uphold honor and excellence only in the service of the Filipino people, to reject complicity wherever they encounter it, and to help build systems where no community is treated as expendable, and no infrastructure failure is accepted as normal or inevitable. ENGAGE UP commits to collective action against corruption as a man-made disaster and against the structures that sustain it.

On Bonifacio Day, we remember Andres Bonifacio as a worker, organizer, and revolutionary who opposed a system based on exploitation and betrayal. The Katipunan aimed not at minor reforms but at changing the foundations of an unjust order. Today, when corruption drains public funds, corporate interests shape infrastructure priorities, and climate-related disasters repeatedly hit those who are already the poorest, the challenge that Bonifacio posed remains. To honor him is to side with the masses who refuse to accept their suffering as fate and to work to dismantle corruption as a man-made disaster built into our infrastructure and our economy. # #

Sources:
[1] https://reliefweb.int/report/philippines/philippines-typhoons-tino-and-uwan-dref-operation-mdrph057
[2] https://www.worldvision.org/disaster-relief-news-stories/super-typhoon-fung-wong-facts-faqs-and-how-to-help

[𝗗𝗢𝗡𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡 𝗨𝗣𝗗𝗔𝗧𝗘𝗦 | 𝗞𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗮𝗻𝗴 𝗜𝘀𝗸𝗼’𝘁 𝗜𝘀𝗸𝗮]

We are glad to share another meaningful contribution to our ongoing relief work. Ms. Vianca Alzaga, an AIT student from UP Diliman, generously donated a batch of clothes for families affected by recent climate-related disasters. These items have been safely handed over to ICLA and received by one of our Claretian seminarians.

Thank you, Vianca, for your kindness and initiative.

Donation lines remain open:

For monetary donations:
Maya Bank, Inc.
09204628919

Land Bank of the Philippines
1896393150

For in-kind donations:
Proclade-Pilipinas Foundation, Inc.
Mayumi St., Diliman, UP Village, Quezon City

ICLA Philippines
526 Tandang Sora Ave., Quezon City
Please coordinate with us for a smoother drop-off.

𝗣𝗵𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝟭 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗻𝘂𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝘁 𝗳𝘂𝗹𝗹 𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺—𝘀𝗮𝗺𝗮-𝘀𝗮𝗺𝗮, 𝘁𝘂𝗹𝗼𝘆-𝘁𝘂𝗹𝗼𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗴 𝗸𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗮 🤝💛