Visayan groups pitch for social change

ILOILO CITY — Ten different groups from the Visayas are vying for grant of P100,000 to implement projects with social impact on local communities.

The Visayan groups recently made a pitch to Philip Roskamp and Matt Keener, the public affairs counselor and cultural affairs officer respectively of the United States embassy in the Philippines.

“We welcome new ideas. We are funding programs to improve communities,” Roskamp said.

The project proposals were one of the activities for the Visayas gathering in Iloilo City of the United StatesPhilippines (US-PH) Exchanges Alumni, a network of participants of US government programs.

Finalists include economic development project by Maria Joelyca Sescon in Leyte and Samar; educational program for children with special needs in Passi City, Iloilo province by Aura Layese; a leaders’ summit for youth in Negros Occidental by Kevin Gaitan; a training and educational program for Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) of Negros Occidental by Katherine Maguad; an educational program in Iloilo by Jarrah Brillantes; a learning center for Aetas in Aklan by Profetiza Maatubang; a youth debate in Cebu by William Hermosisima; an economic development project in Sipalay City by Jerick Lacson; a financial literacy for college kids in Iloilo by Angelica Belarmino; and an aftercare program for drug abuse survivors by John Piermont Montilla.

Aside from meeting alumni, Roskamp and Keener also discussed global education at Central Philippine University (CPU) in Iloilo City and planted coral fragments in Nueva Valencia town, Guimaras.