Capital: Manila
Area: 299,000 km²
Population: 87.9 million (July 2005)
Ethnic groups: descendents of Malays, the Visaya, the Tagalogs and the Ilocanos
Official language(s): Filipino
Religion(s): Christians, Muslim
Currency: 1 Philippine peso = 100 centavos
SOS Children's Villages' activities in the country
After visiting SOS Children's Village Imst in 1959, the then Austrian Ambassador in the Philippines, Georg Winternitz and his wife, decided to spread Hermann Gmeiner's idea in the Philippines. In 1963 Hermann Gmeiner visited the country and one year later the national SOS Children's Village Association was founded. The first SOS Children's Village was built in Lipa in 1967.
The conditions for many children in the Philippines were, and still are, dreadful. The city slums are constantly growing, child labour is widespread and, according to a UNICEF estimate from 2000, more than 200,000 children live on the streets. In order to try to alleviate the situation, five more SOS Children's Villages were built in the Philippines in the 1970's and 80's. One of the major concerns has always been to help the people living near the SOS Children's Villages with the SOS Social Centres. They offer day-care centres, counselling offices and feeding programmes, depending on what is needed. The SOS Hermann Gmeiner Schools in Davao, Calbayog and Tacloban ensure that the SOS Children's Village children and children from the neighbourhood receive a good education and therefore, have better chances of finding a job.
Since 1981, the SOS youths who have outgrown the SOS Children's Villages have been able to live in SOS Youth Facilities where they are helped towards being able to live on their own.
In 1989 SOS Children's Village Alabang-Manila, the capital of the Philippines, went into operation. There is an SOS Vocational Training Centre attached where SOS Children's Village mothers and co-workers are trained. The 7th SOS Children's Village in Iloilo, on the island of Panay, opened its doors in October 2003. As all SOS Children’s Villages in the Philippines are generally located in the South and as the Northern part of the country is not free from social problems such as malnutrition of infants, social abandonment of children and poor school performance, there is a need to expand the activities of SOS Children's Villages and to set up the 8th SOS Children’s Villages in Bataan. Since September 2009 the first children could move in this new Village.
At present there are eight SOS Children’s Villages in the Philippines, seven SOS Youth Facilities, four SOS Kindergartens, various SOS Social Centres and Family Strengthening Programmes, and two SOS Vocational Training Centres.
Website of SOS Children's Villages Philippines
(available in English)