IMPACT STORIES
Impact stories are advocacy narratives which aim to spotlight the upshots of non-profit projects, embolden initiatives for empowerment, and effectuate positive social impact. It serves as the documentation arm of the organization to cover its various legal projects and development programs.
Stories
Health Champions in Care Work: Sharing Care Responsibilities in the Face of a Pandemic
RIGHTS IN CRISIS AND EMERGENCIES After one year of grappling with the effects of the pandemic, COVID-19 continues to limit people’s access to livelihood and basic social services such as health, education, food and nutrition, water and sanitation, and life-saving...
Homeward in the face of crisis: Community-based Health Interventions Meet Filipino Resiliency
RIGHTS IN CRISIS AND EMERGENCIES The public health distress caused by the COVID-19 pandemic not only aggravated existing socio-economic issues, but also created new problems of displacement in the workforce. In 2020, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE)...
Public Servant to Health Champion: Empowering Community Leaders to Become Stewards of Health
RIGHTS IN CRISIS AND EMERGENCIES The COVID-19 global health crisis and its compounding effects continue to affect economies and people’s lives especially in poor and marginalized communities of Mindanao. Sultan sa Barongis or SSB remains to be among the poorest...
Magic hands to care and to provide: sanitation and hygiene to combat the COVID-19 pandemic
At the height of the global pandemic last October 2020, Rohamina, 33, an OFW, came back by an ambulance to her hometown in Sultan Sa Barongis, Maguindanao. She decided to hide the fact that she just got back from abroad to prevent being discriminated by anyone she comes across in her hometown. But what did Rohamina do in order to overcome her fear of being discriminated by her community?
Leading from the ground up
RIGHTS IN CRISIS AND EMERGENCIESOn the eve of her 37th birthday, Sittie Batalo was on her way to Cagayan de Oro City when she received a call from her father-in-law in Basak Malutlot, Marawi City. She could hear gunshots being fired. This was the start of the 5-month...
Changing cultural landscapes of disaster preparedness
RIGHTS IN CRISIS AND EMERGENCIESKapamagogopa is a Maranaw custom derived from the word ogop which directly translates to “help”. It refers to the practice of helping the needy as ordered by Allah. For the Maranaws, everyone has the duty to look out for one another and...
Of rotis and sandwiches: how a single mother feeds 14 family members
RIGHTS IN CRISIS AND EMERGENCIESThe “sandwich generation” refers to adults who have a living parent who are 65 years old or older and are either raising a child or supporting a grown child. These middle-aged adults are “sandwiched” between aging parents and kids who...
Assistance in a time of grief
RIGHTS IN CRISIS AND EMERGENCIES“I will leave it up to Allah if I will earn anything for the day,” Magondaya Torondaya, 63, said in tears. Magondaya sells palapa for a living. A staple sweet and spicy Maranao condiment, she makes the palapa herself and peddles it...
Sowing seeds, reaping resiliency
RIGHTS IN CRISIS AND EMERGENCIES“Isang taon naming hinintay ang isang libo” (We waited for an entire year for Php 1,000.00 or $ 20.00), Bedorie Mamailao recalls. Bedorie, 60, explained that ginger takes an entire year to harvest. The first time they did, Bedorie and...
Turning grief into courage: Joie Cruz and her continuing fight
HUMAN RIGHTS By Kristine Rebote Over a year after frontline healthcare worker Maria Theresa Cruz passed away from COVID-19, her daughter, Joie Cruz, translated her grief into a fight for justice. And to this day, she carries on. When her mother passed away, Joie was...
Fruits of labor: Rising costs, sinking profits dash hopes of ComVal banana farmers
ECONOMIC RIGHTS It’s been 44 years since she first stepped foot in Compostela Valley, but Angela Vicente, 65, still remembers her first day of work. Barely an adult at 21, Vicente was hungry for opportunities and decided to try her luck as a laborer in the banana...
Putting out wildfires: How local community patrollers address the infodemic
At the height of the community quarantines back in March 2020, many people from Lanao del Sur starts obeying health protocols in fear of contracting COVID-19. But as time passed, people started doubting if the virus is real or if it’s just a scam by the government and the media.