“It is with great pride that we announce to the public the pilot implementation of the community schooling program of Caritas Philippines, providing young adults and out-of-school youths better access to quality basic education and stable employment,” said Bishop José Colin Mendoza Bagaforo, chairman of Caritas Philippines.
He was speaking during the signing of the memorandum of agreement with Magna Anima Teachers’ College, Unilab Foundation, Center for Integrated STEM Education, and the Diocese of Novaliches.
According to Father Tito Caluag, Caritas Philippines consultant for development programs, “the program aims to respond to the growing unemployment and underemployment problems in the country, hurting more the impoverished families.”
He further underscored that the program “will capacitate the scholars on industry-standard technical and soft skills to prepare for internship and gainful employment.”
“It is important for us at Caritas Philippines to concretely put into practice the advocacies that we espouse like advancing labor rights in the country,” stressed Father Tony Labiao, the national Caritas’ executive secretary.
Aside from the community schooling program, Caritas Philippines is also implementing an educational assistance program for academically challenged students, a family feeding program, and the capacity-building programs at the Caritas Philippines Academy, said Jing Rey Henderson, Head of Communications and Partnership Development, Caritas Philippines.
Overall, Caritas Philippines has allotted 44 million pesos this year for the programs to upscale the capacities of the youth and young adults, through the various Alay Kapwa Legacy Stewardship Programs, she added.
Despite this, Bishop Bagaforo reminds the public “that the Church is only here to complement the programs of the government.” Thus, he emphasized the “need for voters to choose leaders who will defend the rights of the Filipino workers, and champion the causes of the labor sector.”
On Labor Day (May 1), the head of Caritas Philippines said, “We are supporting the call of various labor and civic groups for a wage increase, and the passage of the Anti-Endo Bill to improve the plight of low and middle-income earners.”
“‘Endo’ means end of contract, a term referring to schemes where workers are hired for a fixed period. Instead of regularizing workers which would entitle them to benefits and the power to unionize, companies just rehire them as contractual workers,” reports Rappler.
Caritas Philippines is the humanitarian, development, and advocacy arm of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines.
Caritas Philippines is a member of Caritas Internationalis (international), a confederation of 162 member organizations working at the grassroots in almost every country of the world. It has its headquarters in Rome–coordinating emergency operations, supporting integrated human development, and advocating for a just and better world.
Radio Veritas Asia (RVA), a media platform of the Catholic Church, aims to share Christ. RVA started in 1969 as a continental Catholic radio station to serve Asian countries in their respective local language, thus earning the tag “the Voice of Asian Christianity.” Responding to the emerging context, RVA embraced media platforms to connect with the global Asian audience via its 21 language websites and various social media platforms.
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