The history of our organization

Juvelyn “JUVY” Villanueva Gumal-in; who is a registered nurse and a CGFNS holder (a certificate that qualifies her to work as a nurse in the United States) pioneered the work together with her team. Juvy had chosen to serve the people living in poverty rather than earn a living in favor of her family.

Juvy had done community immersion where the plight of the Mangyans was discovered. In 1998, she was granted a scholarship to study in Uppsala University and was supported by PMU Interlife, Sweden.  After her training in Sweden, Juvy was asked what she wanted to do after Sweden and what her dream was. She confidently said: she wanted to help the Mangyans.

 

With her passion together with the Tenhult Pentecostal Church to work in the Mangyan village; collaborations of effort with different stakeholders were done. Through the help of PMU and Tenhult Pentecostal Church, the first project was possible and the work has expanded in different ways. Juvy’s parents home was used to be the seminar venue and served the Intercultural Communities (ICCs) for 12 years and used as a hub for the work among the Mangyans.

 

The work ventured through a holistic approach in Oriental Mindoro in the areas of Health Education, Literacy and Livelihood Program.  As a project leader of those times, she was motivated to enroll in in-depth study on Community Development. Empowerment was the core and the lifelong commitment of the staff made the work possible. Most of the workers within the project left their homes and worked in remote areas to address the multifaceted problem of the IP. Since then, the work has increased in different areas to community development with its holistic approach in strengthening the Indigenous People and working with advocacy to make the authorities aware of the rights of the IPs.

The work expanded through the support of Swedish churches, especially Tenhult Pentecostal Church as well as Tenhult Alliance Church and Lekeryd Pentecostal Church, Heal Foundation and Natumin Pharma to fully carry out the vision. It targeted the people of low socio-economic status, low education, especially those with poor health awareness and less privileged in the community. 

 

A small study was carried out in the area by the IP’s themselves. The result of this study showed that the Mangyans remain marginalized because of poverty related to lack of education, social discrimination (no birth registration) , poor health, low political independence and voices never heard in the society, no enough source of 

employment, products are sold in a very low prices (no strategy in marketing their products). Lack of basic knowledge on basic rights and low level of formal education, lack of documents on ownership of land and lack of self-esteem to fight for their basic rights.

 

To carry out the vision of transforming the marginalized people through its holistic approach to development, an exciting initiative of the IPs has been the establishment and registration of PMUI.  The different IP groups formulated PMUI to drive their own process of change. The focus is on democratic culture and good governance with respect to basic rights particularly in the registration of the ICC’s. The mobilization of the seven (7) distinct groups (Hanunuo, Buhid, Tadjawan, Taubuwid, Alangan, Bangon and Iraya) in Oriental and Occidental Mindoro drove their own change processes and capacitating PMUI as a strong and influential organization that can be a powerful voice and actor in the civil society particularly in the Mangyan Communities.  PMUI was formed to create an impact on community development interventions focusing on birth registration, education, health, literacy, livelihood and media programs to give the Mangyans a voice that builds their capacity for social reforms. Pampamayanang Mangyan Ugnayan Inc. (PMUI) was registered in the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) with the number CN201120010 in November 14, 2011.

 

The work had expanded beyond measures on the Community Development among the Mangyans. Tenhult Pentecostal Church supported the vision to carry out its work with the partnership of other local churches in Sweden and the Swedish International Development Authority (SIDA). The long-term commitment from PMU, Swedish Churches and with the partnership of Provincial Government has been of significant value to the advocacy effectiveness for the Mangyans of Oriental Mindoro. This is fundamentally important and a success factor, we know that change takes time and meaningful, particularly community development can take many years and the long-term support from those stakeholders in Sweden, allied to the tenacity and leadership of Mangyans and the government line agencies has been the key. As empowerment of the vulnerable, education and advocacy are the powerful tools to reduce poverty and social transformation by increasing the Mangyans’ participation in social reforms that demand their active involvement in advancing their rights to exist through citizenship program.