Follower of St. Ignatius of Loyola.
This month of February we celebrate birthdays of four (4) elderly Jesuits; namely, Fr. Simeon Reyes, SJ who was born in Feb 11, 1930; Fr. William McGarry born Feb 15, 1928, Fr. Robert Hogan SJ, born Feb 16, 1933 and Fr. Rafael Borromeo, born Feb 16, 1931.
By Fely I. Soledad, Founding Executive Director (PCNC)
1. What are some of the concerns surrounding NGOs in the Philippines?
The rapid expansion in the number of NGOs has given rise to concerns about the ability of the government to regulate all these organizations and to ensure that resources channeled to them are actually being used for their declared goals and objectives. These concerns are made significant by the fact that Philippine NGOs enjoy tax incentives under the law, such as tax exemption and donee institution status which allows local donations to be deducted from the donors’ taxable income and exempted from donors’ tax.
2. How did the Philippine government respond to these concerns?
In 1995, the Department of Finance (DOF) came under increasing pressure to increase revenues to the central government. The DOF and the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) therefore set up a joint task force to reform the tax system. The task force proposed a sweeping plan to change the system to address the problem of revenue collection. The proposal, known as the CTRP, would have eliminated the deductibility of donations to NGOs as one means of increasing revenues for the state. If passed, it would have taken away the benefit of deductibility of donations from the donors’ taxable income and also abolished the exemption from donors’ tax.
3. How did the NGO community respond to government’s move?
Some leaders of top corporate foundations and NGO networks immediately realized that this would have an enormous detrimental effect on NGOs dependent on local donations. They then expressed their concern to the Department Of Finance which in turn challenged the NGO representatives to create a self-regulatory body to certify non-stock, non-profit organizations for donee institution status, allowing them to receive tax-deductible and tax-exempt contributions under the new tax law.
Rising to the challenge, six of the country’s largest national NGO networks—the Association of Foundations (AF), the League of Corporate Foundations (LCF), The Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP), the Bishops-Businessmen’s Conference for Human Development (BBC), the Caucus of Development NGO Networks (CODE-NGO) and the National Council for Social Development Foundations (NCSD)—organized the Philippine Council for NGO Certification, or PCNC, which was incorporated as a non-stock, non-profit entity in January, 1997 and publicly launched in February, 1999.
4. What is the relationship between PCNC and the government?
PCNC signed a Memorandum of Agreement with DOF under which it was given the authority to certify NGOs applying for donee institution status based on specific standards. The certification would then serve as a basis for the BIR to grant donee institution status.
5. What is the other role of PCNC?
It was also envisioned that this certification process would encourage local donations to NGOs so significant at this time when resources channeled to social development projects, particularly from foreign donors, are diminishing. However, PCNC exists not only to pursue tax incentives for donors to NGOs. More importantly, it has committed itself to promoting professionalism, accountability and transparency within the NGO and non-profit sector in the Philippines. In effect, a PCNC certification would mean a “seal of good housekeeping,” which hopefully shall also help identify NGOs “of good standing” that funding agencies and partners, both local and foreign, may consider in their choice of which organizations to support. The evaluation process itself is deemed to be beneficial as it provides the applicant NGO the opportunity to assess and improve its own status as an organization and address organizational concerns.
6. How does PCNC operate?
PCNC is governed by an eleven-member Board of Trustees elected from among the certified organizations, and a BIR representative. The primary function of the Board, which meets once a month, is to examine the evaluators’ findings and make the final decision on the certification of applicant NGOs.
PCNC’s operation is handled by a Secretariat headed by an Executive Director who is presently assisted by nine (9) staff members. The PCNC Secretariat serves as the operational hub and coordinates the activities involved in the whole evaluation/certification process. 1,400 volunteer evaluators who are officers/senior staff of certified NGOs and members of professional organizations such as the Philippine Institute of Certified Public Accountants are deployed in teams of 2 or 3 on evaluation visits to applicant NGOs and they then submit their findings/recommendations to the PCNC Board.
7. Where does PCNC get its funds for operations?
PCNC received start-up funds from the Ford Foundation, support for its public awareness campaign and evaluators’ training from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and a grant from the Sasakawa Peace Foundation for its research/documentation project. It also has a grant from the World Bank for the setting up of a public accountability mechanism; the training of volunteer evaluators; application fee subsidy to applicant NGOs for PCNC certification; and the conduct of learning events on good NGO governance. It also received funding from the Spanish Embassy (AECID) for a project on ‘NGO Clinics’ designed to help small and newly established NGOs towards organizational strengthening and PCNC certification. On the other hand, PCNC’s operating expenses are mostly funded by application fees and membership dues.
8. What are PCNC’s criteria for certifying NGOs?
PCNC has formulated three rating sheets — one is for organizations operating for two or more years; another is for newly established organizations; and the third is for networks. The evaluation covers six areas, namely: Vision, Mission, and Goals; Governance; Administration; Program Operations; Financial Management; and Networking. Financial Management gives the best source of assurance for donors that the recipient organization is accountable and transparent and that donations are utilized according to the organization’s declared goals and objectives. Among the important standards in financial management are the presence of a financial plan, check and balance mechanisms, and compliance with BIR requirements. The other areas are significant as well, such as Vision, Mission, and Goals (VMG), Governance, Administration and Program Operations. VMG declares the purpose for which the organization exists and Governance refers to policy formulation and direction-setting, while Administration includes policies and procedures that pertain to lines of authority and accountability between and among various units of the organization. Program Operations includes program/project development, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation. Networking refers to intra- and inter-linkages that provide support for the organization and opportunities for learning and sharing best practices.
Each area is composed of a number of indicators which are rated on a scale of 5 to 1 with 5 as the highest and 1 as the lowest. Extra parameters may be added or deleted when necessary, depending on the organization being evaluated. An NGO may get a 1, 3, or 5 year-certification, depending on its years of existence and ratings from the evaluation
http://www.pcnc.com.ph/admin/downloads/Frequently%20Asked%20Questions%20on%20PCNC.doc.
(Read the whole article from The Windhover, The Philippine Jesuit Magazine, Year XVI, Volume 4, 2014)
If one were to have an anthology of Catholic jokes, a good part of the selection would be about Jesuits and Dominicans, the butt of the joke depending of the sympathies of the narrator. The two orders have many things in common: unswerving love for the Lord and his Mother, the use of study and learning to better defend the Church, and a strong sense of communal identity that unites their members. Yet their approaches, deriving from the spirit and times of their founders, sometimes set them on opposite courses on many issues, such as the problem of grace and the Chinese Rites. In the Philippines, however, young Jesuits and Dominicans have found ways to encounter each other as friends and co-workers in the vineyard.
The Manaoag encounter
As part of their formation, the Jesuit novices used to go on pilgrimage to Manaoag. They would journey on foot, walking two by two going to the Shrine of our Lady of the Rosary in Manaoag, Pangasinan, approximately 170 kilometers away from their starting point in Bocuaue, Bulacan. The pilgrimage was an arduous four to five-day walk, beggng for food and sleeping in the houses of strangers. However, when they arrived in Manaoag, at the Dominican Novitiate of the Annunciation, they received the welcome of long-lost friends from the Domincian novices.
The Dominicans offered them accommodation, food, and rest from the long and tiring journey. They even invited the Jesuits to join them in their regular schedule of praying in common, eating in common, and having recreation in common. They organized sessions where they shared stories about their formation and the wealth of their respective spiritualities. Those encounters have served as the fertile seed bed where Filipino Dominicans and Jesuits formed relationships that bridged differences.
La Naval and Loyola, nurturing a brotherhood
These friendships have been further deepened by the participation of Jesuits during the feast day of La Naval. For several years now, on the second Sunday of October, Jesuit scholastics have graced the grand procession in honor of our Lady of the Rosary, La Naval de Manila, a procession that commemorates the 1646 victory of Filipinos and Spanish soldiers against the invading Protestant Dutch. Jesuit scholastics and brothers, together with their Dominican student-brothers or coristas, would join the throng of thousands of devotees walking through the streets of Quezon city, praying the rosary and shouting “Viva la virgen”. After the procession, seminarians from various diocesan seminaries in the metropolis` would join other religious in a banquet prepared by the Dominican community to cap the celebration of the great feast of our Lady. For the scholastics and coristas, the meal provides the perfect opportunity to catch up on what’s happening to their friends on “the other side”.
The Jesuits have their chance at reciprocating Dominican hospitality in February, when the Dominicans visit Loyola House of Studies. There, the sharing over a festive meal, a tour of Loyola and its environs, capped with an initimate mass with the Jesuits, provide many an insight for the Dominicans in their own journey as religious. The gifts their Jesuit friends give on these visits are always treasured by the coristas.
Looking forward to a grace-filled future
So today, when the Dominicans and Jesuits come together, they are merely following the warm friendship began long ago by their forefathers. If the problem of grace was one of the contentious issues between the members, now grace is working to bring them closer. It was grace that brought Ignatius to Manresa, grace that brought Bishop Salazar to Fr. De la Plaza. Now it is grace that brings Jesuits and Dominicans again to Manaoag, Loyola House of Studies and La Naval. Assuredly, it is grace that will further strengthen this friendship for the building of the Kingdom.
God our Father, we are all your children, make of us a nation of mercy and compassion, eager to meet Pope Francis. Make us a nation of holiness and heroism through Christ, our Lord. Amen
We wish you a joyous, peaceful and love-filled Christmas and a very Happy New Year!
The Jesuit teaching has always been in the pursuit of Jesuits being men for others and serving God. In keeping with the teachings of St. Ignatius de Loyola, JESUITAID works to support the following: care of Jesuits who have offered decades of service, training of those who aspire to continue on with this mission and apostolic works in the spirit of St. Ignatius de Loyola.
On the occasion of the Blessed Virgin’s birthday today, September 8, we make a repost of this video, a reminder that we are all children of God, under His protection through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin. Happy Birthday, Mama Mary!
Eight young Jesuits were sent to bring the Good News of Jesus to Prisoners in Muntinlupa, to migrant farmers and indigenous people in Bukidnon and Culion, to the sick and dying at the Philippine General Hospital, and also to victims of civil strife and war in East Timor.
The poor of Bukidnon, East Timor, and the prisoners in Muntinlupa cannot support their priests financially, and they are in most need of the consolation and hope of the Gospel and the strength given by the Sacraments. It costs about P20,000 a month to support a priest in Bukidnon, opr a chaplain at the Philippine Jesuit Prison Services in Muntinlupa. Your geneours contribution will allow the mission to continue. Any donation given regularly every month will help even more.
For over 400 years, San Jose Major Seminary has formed hundreds of Filipino priests for ministry in the dioceses all over the Philippines. This diocesan seminary aims at forming men of virtue, learning, spirit, and service– agents of renewal of the Church and society in the Philippines. Some of our more distinguished alumni include Most Rev. Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle, D.D., Most Rev. Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales, D.D, and Most Rev. Orlando Cardinal Quevedo, D.D.
San Jose Major Seminary is in need of financial help at this time. Traditional fund sources have been drying up alarmingly. We are asking your help to build up the seminary’s endowment fund, and support its important work of training and forming the young priests who will eventually run our parishes and may someday play key roles in the Philippine Church. The Jesuits through the leadership of composer Fr. Arnel Aquino, S.J. are holding a benefit concert entitled, “Himig Heswita Sings for San Jose” with the special participation of Cardinal Tagle himself. This will be held on Saturday, August 23 and on Sunday, August 31, 7:00 p.m. at Leong Hall inside the Ateneo de Manila campus. Tickets are at P5,000 and P3,000 and P1,000. For ticket sale and reservation, please contact the San Jose Fundraising Office at 426-6091 (TL) or +63 999 759-2465 (SMART) or (GLOBE). You may also email sanjosedevelopmentoffice@gmail.com.
“Tend my sheep,” says the Lord (John 21:16). But who shall look after the shepherds? We hope you can take this rare chance to help form priests who will help bring Jesus to many souls. When you tend the shepherd, you tend the sheep. Thank you very much. May God bless you and your loved ones.
In commemoration of 200 years of the Jesuit Order’s Restoration, a free concert dubbed, Grateful Hearts, Greater Love!, will be held on Saturday, August 9, 2014 from 6:30 to 9:30 PM at the Church of the GESU, Ateneo de Manila University campus.
The concert revisits the three (3) major periods in Jesuit history. Woven into each segment are themes which speak of God’s enduring presence. These are;
FIRST PERIOD: Pre-suppression (St. Ignatius and missionary expansion) and the theme: GOD’S LOVE
SECOND PERIOD: Suppression (humiliation, trials, and survival) and the THEME: FINDING GOD IN ALL THINGS and;
THIRD PERIOD: Restoration – (Rising from the ashes with lessons gained) and the THEME: DISCRETA CARITAS (discerning love)
The concert, organized by Jesuit Communications and presented by the Philippine Jesuit Aid Association Inc. (JESUITAID), combines musical theatre and variety show formats and features Jesuit Music Ministry artists, as well as various performers from the Ateneo community, namely: Himig Heswita, Bukas Palad, Hangad, Tanghalang Ateneo, Entablado, Dulaang Sibol, Ateneo Children’s Theatre. Blue Rep, Ateneo College Glee Club, Ateneo Boy’s Choir, among others.
The evening will be capped by a message by Very Rev. Antonio F. Moreno, SJ, Superior, Philippine Province of the Society of Jesus.
The concert is open to the public. See you there!
