01/07/2026
A LEAP OF FAITH FOR THE NEXT GENERATION
(New Lingap Pangkabataan Inc. Board of Trustees chairperson Nancy Caluya-Nicolas urges the nonprofit to transform four and a half decades of experience into a lasting legacy for Filipino children)
QUEZON CITY — Beneath the trees in the grounds of Lingap Pangkabataan Inc. (LPI) headquarters on Ermin Garcia Street, the organization marked its 45th anniversary yesterday, June 30, 2026, with expressions of gratitude to God for His faithfulness.
As Ms Nicolas was addressing the audience, the occasion quickly turned into something more than an anniversary observance when she made a call to all LPI stakeholders to prepare for the organization next chapter.
Addressing fellow trustees, Executive Director Saturnino “Ninoy” Garvida, staff members, volunteers, project partners, and supporters, Nicolas challenged the audience to look beyond commemorating the organization’s achievements and begin asking what kind of legacy today’s leaders would leave for the next generation.
“Anniversaries are not only occasions to celebrate the past. They are moments to ask difficult questions about the future,” she said.
The address titled “A Leap of Faith: Stewarding Lingap’s Legacy” revisited the nonprofit’s humble beginnings in 1981, when a small group of Filipinos dared to believe that poverty, exploitation, and neglect did not have to define the lives of disadvantaged children.
“There was only a calling and enough faith to respond to this call,” Ms Nicolas said.
She declared that Lingap’s founders stepped into uncertainty with little more than conviction that Filipino children deserved opportunity, protection, and hope.
“Our founders took such a leap… The only thing on their minds was the belief that children were worth the risk.”
Forty-five years later, she said, that leap of faith has been rewarded in lives transformed rather than statistics accumulated.
“Our story is written not only in annual reports but in the lives of children who escaped exploitation, families who found hope, communities that learned to protect their young, and generations of development workers whose hearts were shaped by Lingap’s mission.”
Ms Nicolas challenged the BoT to rethink what stewardship truly means.
Lingap today owns several valuable properties, including its headquarters in Cubao and sites in Pili, Camarines Sur, and Taytay, Rizal. But Nicolas warned against allowing real estate to become the measure of the organization’s success.
“Buildings do not change children’s lives. Land does not protect children. Properties exist because they serve a purpose—they exist to advance the mission entrusted to Lingap.”
The line became one of the evening’s strongest sound bites, drawing attention away from physical assets and back to the nonprofit’s founding purpose.
She argued that properties become meaningful only when they serve children—whether as training centers, community learning spaces, or sustainable sources of funding for future programs.
“The true success of Lingap is not measured by the number of land titles it owns. It is measured by whether it has transformed the lives of children, families, and communities.”
In the middle of the speech, Ms Nicolas suggested that rather than expanding only as a direct service provider, Lingap’s next contribution may lie in sharing the expertise accumulated through more than four decades of grassroots work.
“Wisdom is one of the greatest resources Lingap possesses.”
That wisdom, she argued, has become increasingly valuable as local governments across the Philippines search for effective ways to strengthen child protection systems, improve early childhood education, organize communities, and combat online exploitation.
“Perhaps this is where God is leading us next. This is a path that will not lead us away from our mission but deeper into it.”
She envisioned Lingap becoming a mentor to local governments, civil society organizations, churches, teachers, police officers, and child development workers—multiplying its impact far beyond communities it can directly serve.
“Imagine communities changing—not because Lingap was present everywhere—but because Lingap had multiplied its knowledge through others.”
Calling the strategy “multiplication,” Ms Nicolas suggested it could allow one organization’s experience to influence hundreds of institutions working for children nationwide.
She clarified that leap of faith is not blind optimism, but a courageous action despite uncertainty.
“A leap of faith does not ignore uncertainty. It simply refuses to let uncertainty become an excuse for standing still.”
Ms Nicolas concluded by reminding the audience that leadership is ultimately measured not by recognition but by what it leaves behind.
“We are making our own legacy. May the next generation find it worthy.”
