It is a Sunday morning in a troubled Philippines. Headlines scream conflict in their own disturbing but effective ways. The mindset of Filipinos is being conditioned that there will be more of the same, maybe even of worse things to come. Funny, one gets the feeling that all the players in a belligerent drama are wishing for more, as though a dam of ill will has burst and all sides want to bring matters to a head.

It is, then, a miracle in itself that a "good news" movement is undeterred by the dark and heavy blanket that covers the motherland. Gawad Kalinga continues its focused pursuit of a dream, like a Sir Galahad in search of the Holy Grail across battle fields and unfriendly forests. Like Charlie and Myrna, I do not intend to boast about Gawad Kalinga but feel compelled to raise its bright banner if only to tell the Filipino public that all is not lost, that all, in fact, can change.

Gawad Kalinga is by no means alone. The fact that it grows in greatly troubled times is an indication that our troubled people wish deeply for things to be otherwise and gravitate by instinct or intuition to a work of ordinary people who have found the courage to dream and to work at that dream. The 580 GK communities we have and the momentum for progress in defiance of a national aura of fear and paralysis is a manifest rebellion against desperation and resignation in favor of hope and expansive evolution.

Even as group after group in Philippine society feel compelled to take a partisan side, to go for Gloria or against her, preparing a people to draw their battle lines, a different cause offering the contrasting direction of unity, of positive convergence, keeps up its unstoppable march for greater awareness, sympathy and participation. Political parties, business associations, civic organizations, advocacy groups, the academe and the studentry, and even religious organizations have been drawn to speak out for or against Gloria, and murmurs carry the message that all is not well in the military. Yet, why does Gawad Kalinga draw the same sectors towards itself like a beacon guiding fearful ships towards shore in a stormy night?

It is because Gawad Kalinga is a dream whose awakening has simply come, a dream becoming a force, a dream nourished by all that is good and noble in the hearts of man. Charlie and Myrna are making the dream come true day by day, and they have not been remiss in naming those who now share their dream and their crusade. Multiply the Charlies and the Myrnas, find them in the most congested of cities or the most remote of towns. Find them everywhere in the world where there are Filipinos whose hearts have not abandoned their bonds with the motherland. Gawad Kalinga is everywhere where there is a dream of a better Philippines, a better tomorrow for Filipinos.

All of us who now walk the path of building our nation to what it can become, we must continue to push ourselves and our people to strive for the next level, to seek peace, to work for progress, to appreciate our birthright of abundance and struggle so all can partake of it. We face the greatest challenge of pursuing the most personal of dreams but raising it to nobility when we strive to make our dreams carry benefits beyond ourselves to the whole. A sense of oneness, a productive oneness, a caring and sharing oneness. One people, one dream, one destiny.

Thank you, Charlie and Myrna, for making this Sunday especially bright.

Boy Montelibano