For two straight years now, more than 500 Moro families from a village in Shariff Aguak, Maguindanao have been spending Ramadan away from their homes. The intermittent violent clashes between government forces and armed groups have repeatedly forced the villagers to flee. Most villagers could no longer count with their fingers the times they sought […]

For Lilia Godoy, 63, Typhoon Rolly (international name: Goni) is not something she can easily forget. Her village of Carangcang was devastated by the typhoon although it did not experience flooding like most of their neighboring villages in Magarao. “Many houses here were destroyed. Our neighbor, until today, it’s sad to say that due to […]

For the last 4 months, Uri Bandao has remained productive despite the difficult situation her family and at least 160 others have endured at an evacuation camp in Datu Hoffer, Maguindanao province. Prior to their displacement due to clashes between government forces and armed men, the 46-year-old mother of 6 and wife of a “payong-payong” […]

With a number of communities and local tribes in Mindanao driven off of their land due to armed conflict, thousands of residents have repeatedly been displaced in provinces like Maguindanao. In one town in Maguindanao, an indigenous tribe had to seek refuge in a makeshift evacuation camp due to land disputes. Like a number of […]

We are losing the race against time to fight climate change. This World Humanitarian Day, we want to take action on the climate emergency in solidarity with the people most vulnerable to disasters. We also want to raise the need to accelerate the transition to renewable and sustainable energy as part of our climate action  Join […]

Sarah, 61, discovered her interest in sewing at the age of nine with the inspiration and guidance of her skilled dressmaker mother. In a family of eight in Datu Abdullah Sangki (DAS), Maguindanao, Sarah and her mother are the only ones who love tailoring. “When I was in Grade 3, my mom encouraged me to […]

Johnny and Juanita Paz, a couple, carry the deeply rooted Filipino tradition of respect for older people. So, they decided to take care of not one but two sick elderly, both parents of Juanita, in a small house in Datu Abdullah Sangki, Maguindanao. “My mother-in-law, 87, who is bedridden, was rushed to the hospital last […]

Like the rest of Bicol region, Camarines Sur suffered extensive damage when Typhoon Rolly (international name: Goni) barreled across the Philippines November last year. The region was still reeling from the effects of Typhoon Quinta (Molave) a week before and after Typhoon Rolly was done, almost P340 million worth of high-value crops were damaged in […]

There were no mourners when they buried her. There were no flowers and there was no coffin, only a black body bag. Patricia died just exactly how she lived – abandoned. She was born out of wedlock. Patricia’s mother casted her aside when she was just a kid and grew up with her grandparents in […]

Teenage is the common age to become a parent in a poor village in Sta. Margarita Town in Samar province where  teaches. “Many children do not stay as young people for so long. A lot of young girls get pregnant before they reach the legal age,” she said.   Janita knew that early parenthood is […]