36,000 KALIPI members on its 33rd year

Last week, I was delighted to join the founding anniversary of the Kalipunan ng Liping Pilipina (KALIPI), Las Piñas Chapter, a sisterhood built on courage, compassion, and the quiet strength of women who rise for one another. The gathering was not merely a celebration; it was a testament to the tireless, often unseen, labor of women helping women become the best version of themselves.

Since its establishment in 1992, KALIPI has stood as the bastion of marginalized women in Las Piñas. With its founding leaders led by Vice Mayor Imelda Aguilar, the organization has welcomed an average of 1,090 new members every year. Today, more than 36,000 women have walked through its doors to receive opportunities for career enhancement, small business development, and personal growth. For many, KALIPI is not just an organization, it is a lifeline.

I am reminded of the countless women I’ve met through KALIPI whose stories have softened my heart and strengthened my faith in what generosity can do.

One of them is Ate Michelle, a solo parent from Leyte who arrived in Las Piñas two decades ago with little more than courage and a five-year-old daughter. Through KALIPI, she received home baking training and a small seed capital of P5,000. What began with a handful of ingredients turned into a thriving kakanin business.

Today, her daughter is a registered nurse in the Middle East, and Ate Michelle not only sustains her livelihood but also supports the studies of a niece and nephew from Leyte. That is the beauty of generosity, its blessings ripple outward, far beyond the first act.

Another story that touched me deeply is Nanay Corazon, a 68-year-old widow who once was struggling to pay for her maintenance medicine. A fellow KALIPI member, whom she had met only a month earlier, quietly began sharing a portion of her sari-sari store earnings to help her buy her weekly medication.

“Hindi mo kailangang maging mayaman para maging mabait” (You don’t have to be rich to be good),” the younger woman told her. Generosity, in its purest form, is not measured by wealth but by willingness.

These stories echoed throughout the celebration. Hundreds of members attended, many of whose faces were lined by years of struggle and yet were lit with pride.

Onstage, as older KALIPI members performed their dances, I saw the emotion in the eyes of Vice Mayor Imelda Aguilar. She had seen these women at their most vulnerable; now she watched them standing tall, transformed by community and purpose. Who wouldn’t be proud?

In moments like this, I am reminded of the scripture: “She is clothed with strength and dignity, and she laughs without fear of the future.” — Proverbs 31:25.

This is what KALIPI has given its women: not just skills, not just livelihood, but dignity, the kind that allows them to face tomorrow with uplifted chins and generous hearts.

May we continue nurturing communities where women lift each other, love each other, and lead with grace. For when a woman rises, she takes entire families, even generations, with her.