2nd Seafood City – Gawad Kalinga Village in Bagong Silang, Cavite


With the completion of the Seafood City Fisherman’s Village in Manapla, Negros Occidental, we’re once again on the way towards building another village -- this time in Bagong Silang, Cavite. The site is part of the GK USA Hope Village, a resettlement project of the National Housing Authority (NHA). Of the 150 homes GK USA will build in the Hope Village, 8 have been completed and over 100 have been funded. Seafood City’s partnership with Gawad Kalinga goes back over three years and continues to thrive. In the United States, Seafood City serves as an information center to spread Gawad Kalinga’s message to Filipino-Americans.

"Nation Building Partners" Pinoy store chain in U.S helps Gawad Kalinga


NationBuilding Partners - Seafood City Supermarket and Gawad Kalinga

By Patricia Esteves PhilStar | SAN DIEGO, 11/25/07 --

 

A successful Filipino chain of supermarkets in the US has partnered with Gawad Kalinga by putting up permanent GK exhibits in their stores.


“This project aims to make Gawad Kalinga and its message of hope a byword in every Filipino home across the United States – using Seafood City as a venue to spread the information and encourage participation in GK,” says Jose Hontiveros, Seafood City’s senior vice president for marketing.


Seafood City, which has 14 stores in choice locations in California and Las Vegas, is a one-stop shopping destination for Filipinos in the US and is set up in such a way that other popular Filipino establishments such as Chowking, Jollibee, Red Ribbon, PNB Remittance Centers and cargo forwarding outlets are also located within the same shopping complex. Now, patrons can also view in the popular supermarket the GK exhibit dubbed “GK and Seafood City: Partners in Nation Building,” featuring the different programs of GK such as Productivity, GK Builders Corp, GK Heroes Run and the Bayanihan Build.

“It also shows the everyday heroes of GK. Ordinary people who have been touched by GK and sacrificed and have given their padugo (bleeding cause) because they believe in the mission and vision,” says Leslie Otado of Ancop USA/GK.


The exhibit is divided into five sections. The first section features how Filipinos are world-class people, citing CNN reports that Filipinos are now the second highest earning ethnic group in the US because they “dream big, pray more, sacrifice more for family and kin back in the Philippines.” It also features Filipinos as patriots in exile and how, through GK, they have been reconnecting with their home provinces to build a village for the poor as their permanent legacy. There’s also a section on GK Balikbayani build where Filipino and non-Filipino heroes can come home to help in the GK build. Likewise, it features the GK Builders Corp. where Pinoys and foreigners can stay in the Philippines for six months to two years to share skills with the poor.

The second section features how efforts of Filipinos around the world to rebuild the Philippines have attracted corporations and governments to build their own villages. The third section of the exhibit features the livelihood of GK residents, their sturdy homes that can withstand typhoons, the Sibol preschool, Gawad Kalusugan programs in the villages and the villages built for Muslims in Mindanao. The fourth section invites Filipinos in the US to build homes for the poor in the Philippines, which they can call a legacy of their own, citing that all it takes are passion and love for the poor; seed funding for the village (10 percent of the total cost, $6,000-$7,000 dollars); committing to raise the rest of the village within a year by advocating to one’s sphere of influence, which includes family, friends and co-workers; and attending GK assemblies and training talks to help one become an effective presenter for GK.

The fifth section, meanwhile, features how Seafood City takes an active role in rebuilding the motherland. Hontiveros says Seafood City’s involvement started when their corporate adviser Gus de Leon, invited the Seafood City management team to visit Baseco in Tondo last January. “Our management team was on a business trip to the Philippines and the visit to Baseco was actually a spontaneous decision. During the visit to Baseco, we were amazed at the transformation that has taken place in one of the country’s poorest neighborhoods,” he says. “Usually, when we talk of Tondo, the impression is of a dangerous, crime-ridden neighborhood of run-down shanties. But we saw then how GK has transformed Baseco. Residents were very proud to show us their community. There were school rooms, colorful homes, a library, and even a café! We were so impressed with what we saw then that we returned to the US with the resolve to take an active part in GK,” he says. Hontiveros says the exhibits have generated a lot of interest among those who viewed them and there are already a number of inquiries from Filipinos on how they can participate in GK.

According to Hontiveros, the exhibit was conceptualized during a meeting they had with GK champion Tony Meloto earlier this year. “At that time, Meloto wanted a venue to spread GK’s message to Filipinos across the United States. It was decided that the best way was to make Seafood City stores an information center for GK- hence, the idea for the exhibit/photo gallery,” says Hontiveros.


The first exhibit was launched at Seafood City in Vallejo, Northern California on July 31, followed by the second exhibit at Seafood City in Las Vegas on Sept. 19. Hontiveros says their plan is to have exhibits in all the 14 Seafood City store locations.

Seafood City Fisherman’s Village in Roxas City

Right now, Seafood City is building its own village in Roxas City. Around 100 homes will be built in the Seafood City Fisherman’s Village. Meloto says Seafood City is targeting GK villages in 14 coastal towns. Aside from the village, Seafood City is also building a Seafood processing plant for the livelihood of the residents. “They would like to uplift the lives of the fishermen and give them livelihood. Seafood City is successful in the US and they want to share their success with their fellow Filipinos here by rebuilding the motherland. They want to design a good quality of life for the fishermen. This is patriotic philanthropy. They want to build a First-World Philippines because we all believe Filipinos are first class citizens,” Meloto says.