GVSP Wins TAYO 11 Awards

The Gualandi Volunteer Service Programme, Inc.(GVSP) was awarded as one of the Ten Accomplished Youth Organizations (TAYO11) in the Philippines for 2013 through the “Break The Silence Network Project”. The award was handed by TAYO co-founder Senator Bam Aquino and former Senator Kiko Pangilinan and Secretary Jose Almendras on behalf of President Benigno Aquino III. It was held at the Heroes Hall, Malacañang Palace, Pasig City last February 6, 2014.

GVSP also received the first Jesse Robredo Youth and Local Governance special award given personally by the president of the TAYO Awards Foundation and daughter of the late Secretary Jesse Robredo, Ms. Aika Robredo.

Apart from the prestigious recognition, GVSP also received the specially commissioned trophy sculpted by Toym De Leon Imao and a grant of P50,000.

Nearly 300 organizations vie for the this year’s TAYO awards. GVSP made it the national finals together with other 20 organizations including four other organizations in the Visayas area.

TAYO President and daughter of the late sec. Jesse Robredo hands over the Jesse Robredo Youth and Local Governance Award to JP Maunes during the awarding ceremonies of the 11th Ten Accomplished Youth Organizations (TAYO) last February 6, 2014 at the Heroes Hall, Malacañang Palace.

The national judging was held at the Senate of the Philippines last February 4, 2014. Each organization was judged based on the following criteria: Impact of the project entry on stakeholders; Harnessing the spirit of volunteerism and citizenship; Creativity and Innovation; and Sustainability and effective use of resources.

Break The Silence Network Project (BTS) aims to raise awareness against the rising incidence of sexual abuse and exploitation towards Deaf children and women in the Philippines presenting the issues of Incest, Pedophillia, child trafficking, child pornography in three animated films developed by The Stairway Foundation. It come with Filipino sign language interpretation facilitated by Deaf volunteers and training of Deaf organizations in Bohol, Cebu, Dumaguete, Davao and Manila to become BTS resource centers and empower service providers such as the PNP, Lawyers, Local social welfare department and partner NGOs and government agencies to improve case monitoring and handling of cases involving the Deaf reported and filed in court.

In a recent case study in Manila and Cebu, one out of three Deaf women has been raped and 70% are being battered by their own fathers. Since the launching of the BTS project in 2011, there has been an increase in the number of disclosures and reporting by the Deaf community. GVSP has gathered nearly 90 disclosures of Deaf children and women from Special Education (SpEd) center and communities and has handled over 40 cases in court by providing Filipino sign language court interpreters.

One of the milestones of GVSP was to establish the Information and Police Access for the Deaf also known as the “Police Deaf Desk” in partnership with the PNP Region VII under the regional women and children’s desk. The goal of the Police Deaf Desk is to train a specialized pool of police officers under the women’s and children’s desk in basic Filipino sign language, Deaf culture awareness and how to handle cases involving Deaf clients and persons with disabilities. It is also to centralize the reporting and handling of cases. So far GVSP has already trained nearly a hundred police officers from the major cities in Cebu.

On a larger context, by intensively training and mentoring these NGOs and deaf People’s Organizations ( DPOs) distributed in strategic geographical locations in the Philippines, what is being done is essentially forming a network of like minded organizations committed to addressing the issue of child sexual abuse and exploitation, which is to be called “Break the Silence” (BTS) network. It would be a functioning network wherein ideas, experiences, difficulties and success stories would be shared with one another in order to affect change for the benefit of Deaf children all over the Philippines.

For more information about GVSP and the Break The Silence Network Project, you may visit Facebook page at GVSPphilippines, GVSP Break The Silence Network or you may visit website at www.gvspvolunteers.org or you may visit office at 2 Sanchez compound, J. Panis St. Cebu City. Landline no. (032) 260 4043. Mobile no. 09177014700

Photo above:  John Paul “JP” Maunes, on behalf of GVSP Philippines receives the TAYO trophy together with Deaf volunteers Karen Dianon and Jera Lepatan awarded by secretary Jose Almendras, TAYO co founder Senator Bam Aquino, Former Senator Kiko Pangilinan and TAYO awards President Aika Robredo, and Coca Cola Philippines President Guillermo Aponte. JP Maunes was also awarded The Jesse Robredo Youth and Local Governance Award.