Gawad Kalinga mounts annual Hope Ball in Intramuros

Now on its third year, the GK Hope Ball continues its mission of gathering the country’s elite to address the pervasive problem of poverty and work toward a better Philippines. Its past two incarnations have gone a long way in raising awareness and support for impoverished communities in Sulu.

This time, the GK Hope Ball shifts its focus to the old capital of Manila, Intramuros. The Walled City is currently facing problems of overcrowding and deterioration; more than 3,400 informal settler families are currently occupying public and private lands in the area.

“Intramuros is the soul of our people, and yet here, we have infor-mal settlers who are living under subhuman conditions,” said Gawad Kalinga founder Tony Meloto “This is a poor reflection of our soul as a nation.”

Working together with the Intramuros Administration (IA), Gawad Kalinga began the Kalinga Intramuros (KI) campaign, with the goal of restoring the radiance of the Walled City. Both parties plan to relocate these families to a GK Village in Trece Martires; the village will be funded by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines and will be built on a piece of land donated by the Cityland Development Corp. Ultimately, the campaign aims to generate enough support to transform the slums of Intramuros into beautiful and sustainable villages, provide the relocated families with sustainable means of living, and re-establish the old capital as a center of business and culture by means of social tourism.