Eugenio Lopez Sr. GK Village: A testimony to the continuing Lopez legacy
The Eugenio Lopez, Sr. GK Village Marker
Sarah and Judgee Peņa gave their UNcle
Oscar an all out support during his brief
visit in Iloilo
Mrs. Connie Rufino-Lopez and Margoth
Fragante
Mr. Oscar Lopez and Archbishop Angel
Lagdameo unveils the Eugenio Lopez,
Sr. Village Marker
Lopez Group of Companies chair Oscar
M. Lopez hands out his PhP 1M donation
for the Jaro Cathedral to Archbishop
Angel Lagdameo
Angela Lopez-Guingona and her three
lovely daughters gave away packs of
school supplies to the GK children
For those who were born with a silver spoon, it is easy to live a luxurious life and care less about the concerns of others. But that is not the case for the Lopezes. Deemed as one of the country's most influential and respected member of the high society, the Lopezes never fail to share their blessings to the country that nurtured their forefathers. Their form of philanthropy covers almost every aspect of life from caring for the environment through their Bantay Kalikasan and Save La Mesa Dam projects to honing the young Filipinos by providing programs that aims to improve the educational system of the country like the Knowledge Channel. The latest of which is their strong alliance to the Gawad Kalinga.
Gawad Kalinga, which literally means “to give care”, is a project that was initiated by the Couples for Christ in 1995 which is envisioned to answer the worsening problem of poverty in the country by providing decent shelter for the homeless, land for the landless, and food for the hungry as well as restoring the dignity and peace in every Filipino family.
With the belief that if each and every wealthy Filipino family will simply trace back their roots and help the community in which they came from will help mitigate the burden of poverty, Lopez Group of Companies Chair Oscar Lopez, his better-half Connie Rufino-Lopez, son Jay Lopez, daughters Angela Lopez-Guingona, Cedie Lopez-Vargas and Rina Lopez-Bautista (of Knowledge Channel)jetted back to Iloilo last February 22, 2007 to formally turn-over the house keys of 19 (out of 50) newly-builtGawad Kalinga houses at the Eugenio Lopez, Sr. GK Village at Brgy. Buntatala, Jaro, Iloilo City. The beneficiaries of said new houses mainly consist of church workers. Mr. Lopez was joined by Gawad Kalinga Executive Director Antonio P. Meloto and CBCP President and Jaro Archbishop Angel Lagdameo in finally making his go-back-to-your-roots advocacy a reality. Also present during the ceremonial turn-over and unveiling of the Eugenio Lopez Sr. GK Village marker were GK Iloilo Head Angel de Leon, GK Head of Partners Management Group Peter Tiu, Jaro Archdiocese Social Action Center DirectorMsgr. Meliton Oso, Association of Ilonggos in Metropolitan Washington D.C representatives Mr. and Mrs. Jim Taylor, University of Iloilo Vice President for Administration Mrs. Cecelia Ortiz, the Sisters of Our Lady of Angels-Belgium headed by Sr. Mary Peter, Janiuay Mayor Ben Margarico, students from University of Iloilo and GK officers andhomepartners.
Likewise, spouses Sarah and Judgee Peña, Oscar Lopez's niece and nephew, gave their all-out support to their uncle all throughout the day.
The Eugenio Lopez, Sr. GK Village will house a mini-museum which will contain some of the family's treasured memorabilia. It will be the first museum to be put up within the GK Village in the country. This is in honor of the family's commitment in uplifting the lives of the many Filipinos who lives in slum areas. The 3 million pesos which was used to build all the 50 houses within the 1.6 hectare GK village came from Mr. Oscar Lopez's own pocket and not from the Lopez Group of Companies though the Sibol building, a daycare center located within the site, that was donated by the Lopez-owned MeralcoMillenium Foundation, Inc under the leadership of Mr. Manuel M. Lopez. Sibol is the first daycare center to be funded by the Meralco outside their area.
The Lopez legacy does not stop with the Gawad Kalinga. In fact, Mr. Oscar Lopez donated an amount of one million pesos to the Jaro Cathedral which he personally handed out to Archbishop Lagdameo. The donation will help complete the ten million pesos fund which is being raised by the archdiocese to renovate the historically famous Jaro Cathedral and to save it from collapsing.
The young generation of Lopezes also showed their gene-inherited philanthropy through a brief gift-giving activity wherein Angela Lopez-Guingona and her three daughters distributed packs of school supplies to the children of GK homepartners.
The Gawad Kalinga is just the beginning of the many projects of the reigning Jaro Fiesta Queen Maria Katrina “Maiki” Lopez Abello, granddaughter of Mr. Oscar M. Lopez. This is in legacy of her great grandfather Don Eugenio Lopez, Sr.