Send 100 more needy Filipino Amerasians to school

To Our Generous Partners,

 We hope the year is unfolding nicely for you.  Thank you for the years of caring for Filipino Amerasian children.     

 This report will begin with a refresher about who we are and how, after 100 years, we remain relevant against the changing landscape of education in the Philippines. 

 Our beginnings

 Our story begins with the arrival of US servicemen in the Philippines

1898 - 1935                US occupation of the Philippines

1935 -  1946               Commonwealth Period

1955 -  1992               US expanded Clark and Subic bases  right after World War II                                                                                                           and  throughout  the  Vietnam War

The children and mothers left behind

Decades of servicemen coming to the Philippines resulted in hundreds of thousands of Amerasian children left fatherless, their Filipino mothers forced to raise them alone.

In 1921, Gov. Gen. Leonard Wood organized a group to help the children.

Today, more than 100 years later, the Philippine American Guardian Association continues to help empower Filipino Amerasian children through education.

The current situation

After the US Bases were shut down due to the non-renewal of the US Bases Treaty and consequently, due to the eruption of Mt Pinatubo in 1992, a new initiative was born that brought back US servicemen to the Philippines.   

It started as the "Balikatan" exercises and has now evolved into the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) that brings not only US servicemen but even those from other countries all together to share best defense practices.

And this is what boosts the number of Filipino Amerasian children.  A forgotten sector that  continues to grow, challenged by generational poverty and social stigma. Their challenges include:

• At risk of being used by their families for subsistence through youth prostitution and human trafficking
• Bullying or harassment, especially for African (Black) Amerasians that impacts negatively on their mental health
• Female Amerasians working as bargirls
• Not having the means to go to school

 Education challenge in the Philippines today

In the Philippines, education is subsidized by the government.  Tuition in public schools and universities are now free.  Yet the gap between education and poverty remains wide.

Today, more than 11 million children cannot go to school because they cannot afford transportation, school supplies, school fees including internships, uniforms, shoes and meals at school.   For those who start going to school, they end up dropping out because they cannot sustain the means to continue. 

Our program

100 years later, our organization still finds itself useful by being able to jump in together with other organizations to help bridge the gap between education and poverty.  

Our program is a blend of:

• Educational assistance
• Psychosocial support
• Personal development

Educational Assistance

From the donations we receive, we are able to give a monthly allowance that helps with transportation, meals, uniforms, supplies, and other school needs.  Internships for college students are a challenge because often they are given internships in companies away from home and relocating for about 2 months can be costly.  They have to cover their board and lodge, transportation, and an internship fee.

Part of the program requires the children to share monthly updates or anecdotes about challenges and proud moments.    At the end of every school term, they send us a copy of their grades.

Psychosocial Support

Our social welfare officer conducts monthly check-ins and quarterly home visits with the children and parents to identify any intervention if necessary.     

Personal development

We are increasing members in our pool of volunteer mentors.   Some topics are relevant for the parents.  Topics each year always include mental health and family.  The workshops are channels for the parent and child to express themselves and find sweet spots that they can use to strengthen their relationship.   Having that support from each other plays a big role in facing daily challenges because they feel they are not alone.

Highlights about our beneficiaries  “poverty is not a hindrance”

We are proud to share how we have beneficiaries who find time to balance schoolwork and working part-time after classes, to volunteer for others.  Even though they are still students, already they are becoming productive citizens. 

We have a volunteer firefighter, a volunteer for medical missions, orphanages, and a Red Cross trainer who is usually a frontliner during calamities.  

Two of our beneficiaries hold positions in local government as youth leaders for their “barangay,” or community.

Through the years, our beneficiaries have been consistently making good marks. Their averages range from 84-86 (B-) to 90-92 (B+) or higher.  Last school year, we had cum laude graduates.

One thing we can say about our beneficiaries, poverty does not pull them down.  We have witnessed how they continue to move forward even in the most difficult times.

This year some of our alumni came to the aid of a beneficiary who needed medical help.  An alumni who just graduated and is waiting to find a job donated whatever he had left in his wallet just to help. 

Fundraising efforts “reaching our bottom dollar”

This year we organized campaigns to raise funds.  One was “Backpack for Life,” for school supplies.  The other was “A Gift of Joy,” to help put Christmas on the table of the families.  The response was overwhelming, and everyone had enough for school and a Christmas dinner.  We were also fortunate to have new donors this year who committed to sponsoring at least one beneficiary to cover the education expenses.  The donations we receive through GlobalGiving continue to make a huge difference.   And we hope that we can increase this community.

Empowering children for over 100 years is starting to challenge our bottom line and there is need to keep our financial position strong so we can continue to help more children.  Seventy percent (70%) goes to our Welfare costs or our program while thirty percent (30%) goes to administrative costs.   

Welcome 2025

Our plans are anchored on self-sufficiency and sustainability.   The Philippine Department for Agriculture announced that it would be implementing a food security emergency plan.   But prior to this, the country has been grappling with these numbers

United Nations (UN) Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)

•  The Philippines had the 3^rd -highest incidence of severe and moderate food insecurity, at 44.1% of the population, after Timor-Leste (53.7%) and Cambodia (50.5%) in the period 2021-2023.
• This translates to 51 million Filipinos who are moderately and severely challenged by food security
•  And 1 in 10 people (9.8%) experience hunger in the Philippines

With this, we would like to help our beneficiaries by organizing workshops about the following:

Urban gardening in small spaces for food security and livelihood for the parents to at least help put food on the table.  

There are so many more Filipino Amerasian children out there who are part of these numbers.  Your continued support is helping them out of these statistics by closing the gap between poverty, education and subsistence. 

Our gratitude rings strong every day that we are able to take a step to accomplish this with you by their side.  Together with the children, we wish you all that is good and invite you to stay the course with us.

Sincerely,

Jill Cortes

Executive Director

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To Our Dear Partners,

 We hope you are all safe and doing well. 

Graduations are a day of mixed emotions.  We are sure that you all experienced feeling proud and happy as you watched your kid accept their college diploma.  Then you found yourself trying to hold back tears while feeling relieved.  And then your mind went through the movie of your kid growing up and then finally ready to step out into the world.  Such gamut of emotions all bundled in the celebration of one foot out the door.  Graduations are incredible moments that will remain etched in your mind and heart.

Please allow us to take you back to that moment but this time for the Filipino Amerasian children you have helped get to the academic finish line.  Join us as we celebrate our graduates, some of them with honors.   Each of them “grew up” in the organization since elementary and stayed on track despite the odds and earned their college degrees.   

For this report, we felt it best to have some of them “speak” for themselves.  Here are verbatim testimonies. We hope you find this a worthy read.

“This is to thank PAGA and our sponsors for all the support that was given to us during the time I was sent to school in my elementary, high school, senior high times, until I graduate from college. All the support was truly helpful and was beneficial to me and my family. I am very grateful because I have been part of PAGA where I also learned different rules in life that I am guided through my years of scholastic experience.  PAGA had been supportive with all my scholastic needs all throughout my journey.  Words are not enough to say thank you but my heartful thanks are splendid because I was able to finish a degree with the support of PAGA. I will always remember that once in my life I was part of and recipient of PAGA who part of my achievements and success had been. Thank you very much. May all of us be Bless and this journey will guide me to be better person. Again, thank you very much.

- Graduate, Bachelor of Science in Management Accounting

Dear PAGA Sponsors,

" I want to express my heartfelt gratitude for the unwavering support provided throughout my educational journey, spanning from elementary school to college. Your dedication to education has been instrumental in opening doors to opportunities that might have otherwise been challenging for me to reach. Now, as I embark on my professional journey after graduating, I am grateful to share that I can contribute financially to my family. Because of your kind donors, you not only assisted me with financial support for educational expenses but also served as an inspiration, motivating me to excel academically. Your belief in the transformative power of education has not only changed my life but has the potential to positively impact many others facing similar circumstances. I deeply appreciate your kindness and commitment to educational empowerment. Your support not only alleviated my financial burden but also fueled my determination to succeed and make a meaningful contribution to society. I eagerly anticipate sharing my future achievements with you, and I am genuinely thankful for the pivotal role PAGA has played in shaping my educational journey. Thank you once again for making a lasting impact on my life. “

- Graduate,Bachelor of Science in Business Management, Major in Marketing 

 “ First of all I would like to thank my family and the people who donate to PAGA for helping me to achieve all of these diplomas, also thank you for helping me face my challenges while studying and now I can officially claim that I graduated with the help of PAGA through their workshop, seminar, giving school supplies and allowance, and lastly through their guidance. And now I'm entering the new stage of life. Facing problems in more mature manner. Thank you for being part of my life, I will never forget all of your help to me and to my education. Thank you PAGA.

-  Graduate, Bachelor of Science, Criminology

On behalf of the Philippine American Guardian Association (PAGA) team, we remain grateful for sharing what you can to help liberate children from poverty and give them that one chance to rise above their present situation.  This is indeed a partnership that continues to make a difference that will transform lives.

Jill Cortes

Executive Director

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Knowledge Sharing Beyond the Classroom

Your donation affords the children educational assistance for tuition, school supplies, uniforms, transportation, health care and other school fees for projects and internships for seniors.  

They also participate in seminars by volunteer mentors to help them cope with everyday life or provide added knowledge that may help them prepare for the “real” world.  Here are highlights of seminars they attended.

* Etiquette For Teens or How to be a Better Person

Our mentor put more value to proper introductions, handshakes and navigating a formal dinner table set-up.  She emphasized how having proper etiquette was an indicator of one’s personality.   People who have made etiquette a habit are kind, respectful and sensitive to others.  And therefore, better themselves as human beings.

In this day and age, etiquette may not be as popular as it was back then.  But we are glad to have had the chance to bring it into PAGA’s program. This seminar proved extremely valuable for the beneficiaries because etiquette is one of the behaviors that will set them apart positively in a crowd.  This is part of their education beyond the classroom that can never be taken away.  A lesson that is timeless and does not know any age or generation. 

* Financial Management Seminar

Our volunteer Finance wizard gave a compelling, yet simple talk about managing finances.  We invited parents and senior college students to this session.  Initially, they were not enthusiastic because, as expected, they felt the topic was irrelevant since they did not have money to manage.  However, after learning about the “money” culture and behavior of Filipinos, the enthusiasm started to build, and participants felt comfortable and were able to relate to the topic.  It wasn’t about having a lot of money, but how to be in control of whatever you had. The simple habit of looking at your whole budget and assigning this to include savings even a minimal amount, was liberating for the participants.  He also shared how they should not belittle themselves because of their situation but believe they are capable of helping themselves. With this, our beneficiaries and parents no longer felt helpless; instead, they felt hopeful.   

 * “Balik Eskuwela” or Back-To-School

We opened the new school year with our “Balik Eskuwela” activity by conducting a creative, participative workshop about Safety.  The activity was conducted by our volunteer mentor, a professionally trained and certified Safety Officer.

The concept of Safety was drawn out organically through various activities.  These were strategically designed so the beneficiaries could define and explain more about Safety from their experience.   This helped embed Safety since the ideas came from the beneficiaries themselves.

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