Alay Lakad 2017 Photos
RCM Members together with Rotaract Clubs of Manila and De La Salle led by Pres. Jimmie Policarpio participated in the Alay Lakad 2017 held at the Quirino Grandstand, Luneta, Rizal Park, Manila, September 24, 2017, Sunday, 8:00AM,
ALAY LAKAD
A CONTINUING STORY OF SERVICE
Forty five years of walking has benefitted thousands of out-of-school and marginalized youth through livelihood opportunities and scholarship programs.
Marking its 45th year of service , Alay Lakad Foundation , Inc. has sustained its Walk-for-a-Cause activities through good and bad weather.
Every First Sunday of September, throngs of walkers converge at the Luneta Park and march in front of the Quirino Grandstand to show their support for a worthy cause. Walkers from all sectors of society, schools, civic groups , government agencies and NGOs wake up at early dawn to walk for service.
The Beginnings
The story of Alay Lakad is an oft told story. It started with the vision of then Department of Social Welfare and Development Secretary Estefania Aldaba Lim to create a program to raise needed funds for the out-of-school youth. She sounded a call to all civic groups like the Rotary, Lions, Jaycees, Kiwanis and corporations for support. Among the first who answered the call were the Girl Scouts of the Philippines where Dr. Lim was an active volunteer, and the Boy Scouts of the Philippines who both became active Alay Lakad partners for the last 45 years. San Miguel Corporation and other Ayala Avenue business establishments also became contributors of the cause.
Soon, Alay Lakad spread like wild fire all over the country Training programs for the OSY were undertaken. Provinces and cities started their own Alay Lakad activities to generate funds. The only requirement given by the DSWD was to furnish them with an accounting of money raised during the walks.
The results from the field were amazing. Training workshops and skills training activities were reported from the provinces. Radio repair training courses were given to OSY n some provinces of Southern Luzon. Out-of-school youth who were music minded were taught guitar and drums playing. They had started to earn money at birthday parties and special occasions.
In due time, Alay Lakad became a yearly activity joined by thousands of walkers from Metro Manila and environs. Celebrities like Kris Aquino and Dingdong Dantes had graced the Quirino Grandstand stage watching the marchers pass by.
Eventually, even the Presidents of the Republic of the Philippines joined and endorsed the yearly walk.
Presidential Proclamations
Presidential endorsements started with President Ferdinand E. Marcos in 1974 when he issued Proclamation No. 1267 declaring every 3rd Sunday of June as “Alay Lakad Para sa Kabataan Day”. In his edict , President Marcos enjoined “all public and private agencies and organizations engaged in youth development to maximize their efforts to help create a society that attains the full economic and social development of our youth , particular the disadvantaged , to support Alay Lakad sa Kabataan in every way possible so as to make the effort more lasting and meaningful.
In 1986, after President Corazon C. Aquino was installed in office , she issued Proclamation No. 27 likewise declaring an “Alay Lakad sa Kabataan Day” but changing the date from First Sunday of June to Second Sunday of September.
The date was again amended in 1988 when another edict , Proclamation No. 289, was issued transferring the Walk from Second Sunday to First Sunday of September.
When President Fidel V. Ramos took over, there was another amendment to the Aquino Proclamations . He added the word “Takbo” in Proclamation No. 168 making a change from “Alay Lakad Kabataan Day” to “Alay Lakad at Takbo Para sa Kabataan Day”.
Alay Lakad likewise enjoyed strong patronage from President Joseph Estrada who , in 2000, announced “the Walk records demonstrate the unity of the government, civil society and business sector in empowering the youth., and in agreeing to bring the youth into the mainstream of economic project. It is an opportunity to encourage them to actively participate in the process of development and nation building.”
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo , then Secretary of the Department of Social Welfare and Development actively participated in overseeing the activities of Alay Lakad as its President. Later, she decided to turn over the presidency to a private individual, Rotarian Frank A. Evaristo who is still serving as Alay Lakad Foundation, Inc. president.
Alay Lakad Becomes a Foundation
On December 3, 1975 , Alay Lakad was incorporated with distinguished leaders from government and the private sectors affixing their signatures as incorporators Incorporating Alay Lakad was to strengthen its resolve to develop among others , the leadership potentials of the youth , provide them with opportunities to hone their skills and capabilities, raise funds for the needy and marginalized youth, and enhance partnership between the public and privte sectors in promoting the welfare of the youth. The Minister of the Social Welfare and Development Department was chosen adviser of Alay Lakad, Inc.
A year after, on October 4, 1976, Alay Lakad Inc. was established officially. In June 1996, 20 years after it was incorporated , it was converted into a Foundation. With the newly gained
status , a Board of Trustees, consisting of 25 members, started running the affairs of the Foundation. Its officers are composed of the President, Vice President, Treasurer, Assistant Treasurer, Secretary and Auditor. The Board is supported by the National Secretariat that serves as Administrative Staff composed of Volunteer Executive Director Elizabeth E. Guzman and contractual staff Esther Evelyn Villanueva and Edwin Flores.
The Foundation has also a Management Committee , Advisory Council and Standing Committees which include the Projects Committee, Finance Committee, Membership Committees and Ways and Means Committee. For the annual walk, special committees are created to oversee the activity. They are the National Coordinating Committee with its Sub-Committee on Finance, Program, Public Relations, Awards, Walk, Security, Traffic and First Aid and Physical Arrangements.
Yearly, the chairmanship of the Walk rotated among Rotary, Lions, Jaycees, Kiwanis and other member organizations as designated by the Board of trustees and the various Walk sub-committees.
DSWD and Alay Lakad
As the initiating agency, the Department of Social Welfare and Development played a vital role in nurturing Alay Lakad. DSWD Secretaries served either as Alay Lakad presidents or members of the Council of Advisers. Those who served as presidents were Dr. Estefania Aldaba Lim (Founder and President) April 11, 1971 to November 30, 1977; Nathaniel Tablante , December 1, 1977 to March 28, 1978; lawyer Sylvia P. Montes, July 27, 1981 to March 2, 1986; Dr. Mamita Pardo de Tavera, March 3, 1986 to June 30, 1992; Corazon Alma de Leon, June 30, 1992 to March 8, 1995; Mrs. Lina B. Laigo , March 9, 1995 to July 1998; former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, July 1998 to April 1999. And then Frank Evaristo , 2001 to present .President Arroyo , the DSWD Secretary decided to turn over the Alay Lakad presidency tol a private citizen , Mr. Evaristo was the first non-government president. Secretaries Corazon Juliano Soliman and Dr. Esperanza Cabral also sat in the Foundation’s Council of Advisers.
Those who served as ALFI Executive Directors were ; Dr. Teresita S. Sangco, 1993; Marie Fernandez, 1998; Arnold Cesar O. Romero , 2000; Rafael R. Cosuco, 2002 and Atty. Jose Redoblado, 2005 as Officer-in-Charge.
Since its founding, DSWD had also been an “automatic member” of Alay Lakad’s Board of Trustees. It has always been supportive of the programs and projects of the Foundation. On September 7, 2007, DSWD through Secretary Esperanza Cabral, decided to withdraw its membership from Alay Lakad.
The Board presented the matter to ALFI’s General Assembly on April 28, 2008 to amend the Foundation by-laws, removing the DSWD as automatic member of the Board and its place elected , elected a replacement to the Board. The Board unanimously voted the Philippine
National Police (PNP)a long time supporter and partner of the Foundation in its yearly walk as automatic board member.
Programs and Projects
The main activity of Alay Lakad Foundation, Inc. has been centered on the annual Alay Lakad, the walk-for-a-cause project for the out-of-school youth which is the signature raising fund activity of the Foundation. Sponsors are enjoined to donate a certain amount , originally one peso for every kilometer covered by a hiker. Civic minded citizens join this mass hike out along prescribed routes in support of the fund-raising efforts intended to support ALFI’s programs and projects.
For 45 years, Alay Lakad Foundation has continuously opened livelihood opportunities for the youth and has sustained its scholarship programs and grants to high school and college students. The Foundation had entered into a Memorandum of Agreement with the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) in 2012 to provide full scholarship grants to ten poor and deserving students scholarship grants for a four-year college course as provided in the MOA. The scholars had already graduated last year.
Fund Generation is the most important program of ALFI. Although the annual Alay Lakad is a special event for raising funds that ALFI has been doing for the past 45 years, it has also evolved from charging a peso per kilometer per volunteer walker in the 1970 to sending letters to civic groups, private and government entities to ask for fund donations. Most of the donors who gave during Alay Lakad Day are the Foundation’s loyal and avid supporters from affiliated government and non-government organizations. The national government agencies consistently top as the biggest contributor by sector, followed by the local government units and non-government organizations.
Other fund raising activities are Bingo Socials, Ballroom Dancing, Commemorative Car Plates, Commemorative Stamps, Golf Tournament, Dinner for a Cause and Oriental Painting Exhibits by Dr. Teruko Haga from Tokyo, Japan.
More than 70,000 out-of-school youth have already benefitted from Alay Lakad Foundation, Inc. all through these years and still increasing.
Gawad OscarM. Florendo Award
Apart from citations coming from various groups on its commendable projects , Alay Lakad was also a recipient of the Gawad Oscar M. Florendo Award bestowed by the Public Relations Organization of the Philippines (PROP) on September 12, 2001 at the AFP Commissioned Officers Club in Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City.
New Resolves, New Directions
Alay Lakad on its 45th year , resolves to continue its “walk” for the benefit of the youth. The Foundation Baord is determined to in tensify its efforts to develop better programs and projects to improve the lives of the out-of-school youth and their families. Walk for a Cause , as a pioneering walk group , will certainly be around for a long . ,long time.
