Justice Agrava legacy lives on as TOPS celebrates 50th Year

This year marks the 50th anniversary of Tahanan Outreach Projects and Services Inc. (TOPS), a non-profit private civic organization that delivers youth-servicing and childcare projects for the welfare of underprivilege children as well as their families and the community.

Founded in 1969 by women lawyers from the Judicial & Domestic Relations Court, then presided by late Justice Corazon Juliano Agrava, TOPs was created on the principle of tracing juvenile delinquency as its roots and thereby preventing it through comprehensive and integrated human development. With this mission, the organization proceeded in giving assistance and protecting the rights of children (below eighteen (18) years old) in trouble with the law under the Silungan program.

With these in mind, the foundation decided to expand its programs and created the Liwanag ng Tahanan (Early Childhood Development Center), for the wholistic development of pre-children in and around Sta. Ana, Manila where the center is located. “It was a beautiful sight seeing the fathers bringing their children to our school before they go to work and the mothers fetching their children at school’s dismissal, fostering a happy relationship between the students and their teachers and that of understanding between parents and teachers,” reminisces lawyer Teresita Cruz Sison, one of the original board members of TOPS, and a very good friend of the late Justice Agrava, who recently retired as its treasurer at the age of 92.

To address the socio-economic needs of street children in Sta. Ana, Manila, Justice Agrava and the board members created the Tuluyan Program to provide proper nutrition, basic education and spiritual and values formation of those children at TOPS. The program was so successful that it also reached and served the street children in nearby areas such as Dagonoy Market and San Andres Bukid, Manila.

The Child Sponsorship is another project that gave opportunity for donors to sponsor children and make lasting positive effects and changes to the children.

TOPS not only have minors in mind to help, but also extended it to the parents as well, to ensure that the entire family are working together for their common good. Thus, came the Capacity Building Programs the objectives of which were providing training that covered parenting, values formation and skills development, coaching on spiritual enhancement, and marriage counselling.