Sun Life Builds a Brighter World with Legacy of Light Village

How do you build a brighter world? The Sun Life Foundation brightens the way with the Legacy of Light Village, recognized as a model community for its focus on holistic and sustainable development. Located in 110 hectares of land in Calauan, Laguna, the Village has been growing since its creation five years ago by Sun Life and the ABS-CBN Lingkod Kapamilya Foundation.

Successful relocation

Funded by a P49-million donation, the Legacy of Light Village is now home to families who used to live along the banks of Estero de Paco and Pandacan. Aside from providing affordable housing, the Village also built livable spaces such as a playground for kids and a youth center with a mini-library. A few steps from the houses, one can find the gym and a volleyball court for whole community to use.

One of the foremost challenges of relocating is being uprooted from a job or source of income. To truly make the Village a nourishing place, Sun Life invested on a Learning Center equipped with computer units and a comfortable area for training sessions.. Livelihood initiatives such as a duck farm and crafts-making provide income-generating opportunities.

Led by the Sun Life Foundation and the ABS-CBN Lingkod Kapamilya Foundation, Sun Life leaders inspect the duck farms and other farming pursuits of the Legacy of Light Village, touted as a model relocation community for its holistic and sustainable development.

“The mission of our company is to help people achieve lifetime financial security. But that doesn’t mean anything until you’ve looked after the basics. Food, shelter, clothing, safety, community, church, and jobs. The thing that really struck me here is the jobs… for the centre piece of human dignity is jobs. So you can look after your family and you can look after yourself. That’s been absolutely inspiring to see,” praised Sun Life of Canada President Dean Connor, on a recent visit to the relocation site together with two other Sun Life leaders from the Philippines and the Asian region.

Part of the family

Throughout the years, the Legacy of Light Village has become part of the Sun Life family. Volunteer activities such as visits, recreational activities, and friendly sport matches allowed Sun Lifers to bond with the residents. The Foundation team also checks on the community regularly, to assess their changing needs and situation.

This kind of attention is critical in engaging the hundreds of families who now lives in the Village. Scholarships are sponsored for qualified students while homeowners take good care of their properties. And when some of the houses were damaged by strong typhoons, the Foundation facilitated its rehabilitation.

“We’ve been coming back here many times, and it’s really very fulfilling and really great for us in Sun Life to see the vision coming through one by one. As they say, when you give you get so much more in return and that is true for us, in more ways than one. Thank you for hosting us. You’ve been such great partners. Let’s continue building this,” says Sun Life of Canada (Philippines), Inc. President and CEO Riza Mantaring.

The Legacy of Light Village provides affordable housing and livelihood opportunities for its residents, like duck farming, food, and crafts-making businesses. They arranged a pop-up shop especially for the visit of Sun Life leaders from Canada and Asia.