Editors’ Note: Originally titled “REINVENTING LEADERSHIP FOR COMMUNITY IMPACT: The Journey of Tony Meloto,” this speech was delivered at the EAGLES LEADERSHIP CONVENTION, Singapore Hilton, July 20, 2023. This is the updated version of the author’s original speech. He adds relevant adlibs which he recall making (August 20, 2023). Eagles Leadership Convention 2023 is a biennial thought leadership forum in Asia, featuring experienced leaders from around the region and the world, It is 11th edition held in Singapore since its inception in 2003. The theme for this year is Connect, Collaborate and Co-Create… The Human Side of Partnership.
I am honored and inspired to be among 650 ASEAN Christian Leaders in Business, Government and Ministry at the EAGLES LEADERSHIP CONVENTION whose bottom line is the greater good for our shared humanity.
This gathering of changemakers and dream builders is happening here in Singapore- a country that has created vast wealth, global power and influence due to good citizenship and good governance despite its limited natural and human capital.
Patriotism with faith in action has propelled a weak and insignificant nation to power and prominence.
Lee Kuan Yew made a big difference.
Grassroots Leaders
The world has raised other great leaders and role models to emulate those who changed the destiny of nations and people by not desiring power, money, and glory for self. Gandhi, Mother Teresa, and many great saints.
I do not claim to approximate their greatness. But I wish to follow their footsteps next to Jesus.
The people who shaped my destiny were simple folks like many of them: my father and mother, my wife, and my children. They taught me the core of true leadership: to love unconditionally, to believe totally and hope eternally.
God designed family and community to be the sustainability of our humanity.
My parents, Antonio Sr and Lily, did not own land, home or car. They taught me simplicity, honesty and perseverance in the face of adversity, raised two mentally handicapped children with four more to nurture and educate under the direst circumstances.
My wife Lyn, who came from a landed family in Pampanga and Tarlac, showed me the value of surrender to her divine calling as wife and mother, denying herself the privilege and comfort that she was used to, and dying to self for loved ones to live and prosper.
She patiently nurtured my fragile Christian faith until I found my conviction and direction.
My children, starting with the birth of my eldest daughter Anna, taught me the overwhelming reality of God’s perfect love. If an imperfect father like me could love my children totally and unconditionally, how much more can my heavenly father love me in all my imperfections, inadequacies, and insecurities?
They shaped me, picked me up when I fell, inspired me to never give up on myself and my calling. They showed me that true love is not self-righteous and judgmental but forgiving, caring and empowering.
Leadership by Heart
Love is the heart and soul of leadership: love for family, love for community, love for country, love for the less loved and the less served in our midst.
In helping build global movements like Gawad Kalinga, Couples for Christ, Youth for Christ, and the other Family Ministries, it was for me following the Spirit of God driven by the power of love. The science, system, structure, scale, and succession simply followed.
A vital lesson learned in my faith journey: not to sacrifice the spiritual for the purely secular to be popular.
At some points, I felt I lost my soul in the glare of the limelight on the global stage. At the World Forum Lille, I had a severe spiritual and anxiety attack as I was being paraded around the town square with Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus.
I could not claim what is sacred as my own.
I came from nothing. The glory was not mine. It belonged to the countless volunteers, partners, benefactors, and everyday heroes of Gawad Kalinga. It was their blood, sweat and tears that transformed lives and communities.
Humility of the Imperfect
As an imperfect leader, I became a contradiction to traditional leadership in our country.
1. I gained power to influence others by not seeking power for self.
We collaborated with the highest leaders of the land, from five former Presidents to over a thousand Mayors and Governors to build 3,000 communities. My disinterest in political power protected me from corruption. I do not recall any politician who tried to corrupt me. The person who does not desire power is not a threat to those who will cheat and kill for power.
2. I gained popularity by not wanting glory for self. I was simply the voice and the face of an international movement with countless unsung heroes.
They are the real winners of many global awards we received: Ramon Magsaysay Foundation, Schwab Foundation of Davos, the Nikkei of Japan, Skoll Foundation in Oxford, World Entrepreneurship Forum in Lyon, Ernst & Young, etc.
3. We raised huge resources of funds, land and human capital by not seeking money for self.
In fact, I never handled or controlled the funds we raised and gave all my prize money to the poor. Throughout the decade that I was Chairman of Gawad Kalinga, I had no bank account, no credit card, no ATM and never carried money in my pocket.
I was never in want in my world that unlocked floodgates of good faith and good will. God could not be outdone in generosity to those who do his will.
From 2003-2010, we created the biggest volunteer base in the Philippines and collaborated with 700 major corporations which made us their top choice for Corporate Social Responsibility.
When a big Petrochemical Company used my image in over a thousand gas stations throughout the country and in their print, radio and television advertisements, my talent fee was in the form of 300 homes to shelter the homeless in Batangas and Bicol.
Although we achieved all these through a massive, collective, global effort, I am using the pronoun “I” to emphasize the reality that one ordinary poor person like me without political and economic power, who grew up without land or home in the sugar-rich province of Negros Occidental, can help the landless have land and the homeless have homes through the power of shared vision and compassion with competence and dedication.
As the imperfect leader:
I was anchored on Servant Leadership.
With Jesus Christ as my ultimate model and mentor, I learned to be the steward, not the owner of God’s marvelous work.
Couples for Christ is thriving in many areas of the world today with many leaders at the helm we raised in Youth for Christ and Singles for Christ since 30 years ago.
Gawad Kalinga presently is ably run by a new generation of younger leaders with a genuine compassion for the homeless and hopeless.
Sustainability is letting go of a legacy when it is time to go. I discovered the power of Bridging Leadership.
Connect, collaborate, co-create, cooperate, and coordinate for the good of all.
We need to surround ourselves with people who are smarter and stronger than us to make up for our weaknesses and incompleteness.
The Power of Presence
We also need to see that what works at the grassroots is the power of presence.
It is difficult to serve when we are not in solidarity with the suffering, the insecurities, and the fears of those on the ground we do not know.
Gawad Kalinga did not begin with a big idea and huge resources. It started in 1996 with my simple day-to-day presence and small acts of kindness to the gang members in the slums of Bagong Silang, Caloocan City.
Like clockwork, I would be there every morning as dawn was breaking with coffee and pandesal to share with the early risers among the gang leaders of the Resback gang of Phase 9. I gave them hope, they gave me trust.
Fourteen years later by 2010, thousands of homes were built, and lives transformed in over a thousand towns and cities in the Philippines. The benefactors gave land and money, the beneficiaries countered with sweat equity. It was a win-win proposition for all.
It was enriching for me to be the bridge between the rich and the poor, the bottom, and the top, the urban with the rural.
The First Shall be Last
Our mantra on leadership drew strength from the power of God and the people we served:
Be the first to serve, the last to benefit.
Less for self, more for others, enough for all.
When I was asked to join the Cabinet in one Presidential Administration, I jokingly asked if the offer was “for a kitchen cabinet or a medicine cabinet?”
I realized then that I valued the freedom to serve, not the power to rule.
True Freedom
Freedom is a gift of God to the imperfect. Free to learn from mistakes until we get it right. We stop living when we stop learning.
Even adversity is freedom for new opportunity and greater glory.
At the height of glory after the many global awards we received, I retired from Gawad Kalinga and went into my space of nothingness in 2017 in a farm in Batangas, suffering from severe psoriasis and psychosis, pneumonia, and diabetes. I went into spiritual psychotherapy and cut off all social media connections. And finally had the will to detox myself from the dangerous chemo drugs and steroids that worsened my gut leak, body sores and lesions and brain inflammation. I consciously stayed away from toxic people who claimed ownership over the benefits of other people’s sacrifice.
For nearly seven years, I found peace and slowly regained strength in quiet anonymity in Paraiso at the Bamboo Sanctuary and the Serenity Chapel.
The Power of Silence
There, I discovered the power of silence.
I was hearing God again, no longer my voice nor the adulation of men.
My new mission to care for the indigent elderly was born in silent acts of kindness during the pandemic. Feeding the hungry, comforting the lonely and delivering fruits, vegetables, and eggs to the homes of the disabled and bedridden.
Season of Joy
At 73, my heart learned to smile and laugh again.
In caring for the sad, helpless, and forgotten, I found my value, my purpose and my reason to be happy.
The pain of aging, the shame of past mistakes and the fear of dying lost their power over me.
With the help of volunteers, we gave thousands of Senior Citizens the joy and feel of Christmas monthly at Club Paraiso.
Pray, play and party for long life. Make 60 to 90 the happiest season of our life.
Seniors Faith Club eventually spread to 18 towns in Batangas and the Payatas dumpsite in Quezon City. Last year, we helped over 5,000 Seniors live happier, healthier, and longer lives.
It is a mere drop in the bucket as there are 12.3 million Senior Citizens in the Philippines. But we took the first few steps, which hopefully, will shorten the journey as more feet are starting to march with us.
The imperfect is moving again in his final journey towards perfection in heaven.
Gawad Kalinga in Bicol: Transformative Power of Bayanihan
Last March 2023, Gawad Kalinga’s Bayani Challenge had remarkable success in the towns in Mercedes and San Lorenzo Ruiz, Camarines Norte, which demonstrates the transformative power of the bayanihan spirit. The leaders and volunteers proudly chalked up these impressive achievements; a) provided meals for 2,200 children, nourishing their bodies and uplifting their spirits; b) established 14 Community Food Farms, creating sustainable sources of food for 232 beneficiaries; c) planted 631 vegetable seeds in the Community Food Farms, ensuring a bountiful harvest for the community; d) cleaned up 6 kilometers of streets, making the neighborhoods cleaner and safer; e) cleaned up 15 kilometers of coastline, preserving the beauty of our coastal areas; f) refurbished four schools, providing better learning environments for our future leaders; g) painted and refreshed 70 Barangay facilities, creating vibrant spaces for community activities; g) repainted 48 houses, bringing joy and pride to the families who call them home; h) conducted Yamang Kalusugan programs in 16 barangays, promoting health and well-being among community members; i) 217 individuals benefited from the Yamang Kalusugan initiatives, empowering them to lead healthier lives; j) organized a Barangay Walang Iwanan Youth Camp, engaging 87 young individuals in activities that fostered teamwork, leadership, and resilience. (reference: Gawad Kalinga Facebook page)