Author Topic: Fr. Eugene Docoy: Helping OFWS in Korea to invest in Bohol resort  (Read 712 times)

udtohan

  • Guest
SEOUL, Korea - Any Filipino migrant worker knows the difficulty of living and working abroad, while sending hard-earned money to his family back home.

Once his contract is over, the worker goes back home to find that he has no savings. In other cases, a migrant worker might use his savings to invest in “fad" businesses or spend it recklessly.

After a few months, the money runs out and there is no choice for the migrant worker leave his family and find another job abroad.

Fr. Eugene Docoy, SVD has seen these kinds of situations repeated over and over again in his 19 years working in Korea. He was the head of the Galilea Migrant Workers Pastoral Center in Ansan City, Gyeonggi province, 50 kilometers from Seoul.

“Many workers send money back home, and their families spend it. Then the workers go home after 10 or 15 years, and they realize walang ipon (there’s no savings), so they have to leave again. It’s a vicious cycle of migration," he said.

Seeing this problem, Fr. Eugene invited a speaker from the Asian Migrant Center in Hong Kong to talk about the Migrant Savings for Alternative Investments (MSAI). The AMC had initiated the savings program for migrant workers in 1996.

“The basic concept is to teach the workers to save and invest and re-invest their money," Fr. Eugene said.

The MSAI program “identifies the enormous economic potential of migrant labor, and fights to transform this into actual social power to be harnessed for a just and people-centered development."

The program was introduced at the Galilea center in 1998, but failed to take off.

In 2005, Fr. Eugene said the program was re-introduced, and resulted in the formation of two groups, “Balikatan Para sa Kinabukasan" and "Vision for a Better Tomorrow."

Balikatan Para sa Kinabukasan raised P650,000 in savings from 25 migrant workers, which was invested in an existing venture Matin-ao Rice Center in Surigao del Sur.

The center, which was previously owned by another group of migrant workers from Taiwan, is involved in rice milling, rice trading, micro-lending and agri-vet businesses.

Buoyed by the first group’s success, another group of migrant workers in Ansan City formed Vision for a Better Tomorrow. The group invested in a resort in Panglao Island, Bohol.

“Bohol was chosen as the venue of investment because of its booming tourism industry and the prices of land and construction are still relatively cheap. The site of the land is very close to the soon-to-be constructed international airport and a 19-hole golf course," Fr. Eugene said.

Fr. Eugene said migrant workers committed to invest at least 2 million won (approximately $2,000), which was collected in installments of 170,000 won ($170) a month. The group already has 45 migrant workers as members.

The goal is to achieve P10 million in capitalization. Korean investors and support groups have invested P3 million, which was mainly used to buy the property and build structures.

Last December, the resort named Galilea Center for Education and Development had its soft opening.

Fr. Eugene said the resort is envisioned as an educational center, to take advantage of the strong Korean demand for English-learning camps. There are plans to invite Koreans to stay at the resort to study English language, and at the same time, enjoy the beaches of Panglao island.

Once the resort starts its full operations, the profits for the first three years will be re-invested for the further development of the resort, the establishment of a non-government organization (NGO) for poverty alleviation and scholarships for children of migrant workers.



In the future, dividends will be distributed to the investors.

While the goal is to earn profits, Fr. Eugene said there is a more important social dimension to the program. He hopes the project would become profitable so that the workers would have no need to go back abroad.



“The families have suffered enough, being separated for a long time. We also want to reunite the families… This isn’t just a purely capitalist approach," he said. (Cathy Rose A. Garcia, GMANews.TV)




Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=9527.0

unionbank online loan application low interest, credit card, easy and fast approval

Bambi

  • GURU
  • ****
  • Posts: 7295
  • Life is hard but a perfect dream to live on....
    • View Profile
Reply: Fr. Eugene Docoy: Helping OFWS in Korea to invest in Bohol resort
« Reply #1 on: February 15, 2008, 09:52:45 PM »
He is entitled to be called Saint Fr. Eugene Docoy!  How enviable a person this Priest ist, he recognizes the main problem of those OFWS. Such kind of kindhearted/intellectuals are a demand in our country, isn't? More power to you Fr. Docoy and God be with you always!

Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=9527.0
Best regards
Bambi

best top web hosting company

unionbank online loan application low interest, credit card, easy and fast approval

Tags: