MANILA, PHILIPPINES—The Peninsula Manila General Manager Sonja Vodusek recently announced that the “Hope for the Philippines” The Peninsula—Gawad Kalinga (GK) Village in Maribi, Tanauan, Leyte, Philippines welcomed its first 50 residents just before Christmastime on December 8, 2015, with the last 25 houses scheduled for completion by January 27, 2016. The village will house 75 families from the coastal town of San Roque who were displaced when Super Typhoon Haiyan, named “Yolanda” by Filipino authorities—one of the most powerful storms on record to make landfall—barreled into the coastal provinces of Leyte and Samar in the Eastern Visayas region of the Philippines on November 8, 2013. The construction of the village is being funded using the $900,000 raised by The Peninsula Hotels’ “Hope for the Philippines” campaign.
“Hope for the Philippines” was a shared, four-pronged initiative in Peninsula hotels across Asia and the United States that ran from November 22, 2013 to January 31, 2014 and was designed to assist the victims left homeless by the typhoon. Consisting of $5 for each night’s stay per guest donated by each hotel, as well as proceeds from the sales of a special Philippine-themed “Tea of Hope”, the classic Filipino iced dessert “Halo Halo of Hope” and “Trees of Hope” Christmas ornaments, 100 percent of the money raised was donated to the “Hope for the Philippines” fund.
The “Trees of Hope” campaign is an annual Peninsula Hotels tradition, where Christmas trees are prominently displayed in each hotel’s lobby. Guests are encouraged to purchase an ornament to hang on the trees; the proceeds of which benefit various charity organizations around the globe. In 2013, the “Trees of Hope” campaign saw The Peninsula Hotels joining hands and going the extra mile to help those affected by Typhoon Yolanda/Haiyan in the Philippines—proceeds raised were donated to the “Hope for the PHILIPPINES” project.
With The Peninsula Hotels celebrating its 40th year in the Philippines in 2016, the group is more than willing to give back to the country that has welcomed it with open arms. The Peninsula Manila has become an integral part of the Philippine community, and it will continue to do its part to help build a better nation.
Plans to build homes in the Eastern Visayas region were announced in November 2013 by Ms. Vodusek on behalf of The Peninsula Hotels. After several sites were considered, the decision was made to build the “Hope for the Philippines” The Peninsula—GK Village in the municipality of Tanauan, Leyte province, one of the areas most severely affected by the typhoon. The provincial capital of Tacloban and the nearby municipality of Tanauan were largely flattened by a massive storm surge, leaving people struggling to survive without food, shelter or clean drinking water. Official reports estimated that nearly 7,000 people had died and hundreds of thousands more had been displaced and left homeless.
Playground, Multi-Purpose Hall Included
The “Hope for the Philippines” The Peninsula—GK Village sits on nearly 10,000 square meters of land and will consist of 75 housing units, a playground and multi-purpose hall. “We are very pleased with the progress of the construction,” says Ms. Vodusek. “We had a few delays because of two big typhoons that hit the island province in the early part of 2015 and halted work for nearly a month, but construction started in mid-February and we will have the first 50 housing units ready just before Christmastime this December 8, 2015 with the remaining 25 in the New Year on January 28, 2016.”
Together with Gawad Kalinga, The Peninsula Manila has already chosen 75 partner families who will be moving to the village. They were chosen on the basis of “sweat equity” merit, i.e. their contribution to the project will be in the form of actual physical construction work, as opposed to financial equity, the usual form of contribution, The hotel is also currently in discussion with several non-government organizations (NGOs) who will profile the partner families and suggest sustainable programs to match their skill sets.
Ms. Vodusek adds, “Words cannot begin to describe how very grateful we are for the overwhelming support we have received from everyone the world over who contributed to this campaign. On our last visit to Tanauan, however, we realized that we could and want to do more. We want to build another 25 houses, bringing it to 100 houses in total. But we will need to raise additional funding for this.
“The idea of working together to build communities and homes, and not just homes and livelihoods but long-term friendship that communicates that [those affected by Typhoon Yolanda/Haiyan] will not be left behind, is something that really strikes the core of Gawad Kalinga,” says Jose Luis Oquiñena, Executive Director of Gawad Kalinga. “Together with The Peninsula, it’s really about this aspiration. This is not a one-time intervention, but a lifetime of empowerment so that one day these families will really be able to stand on their own, and eventually help others as well.”
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