St. Hannibal Empowerment Centre

St. Hannibal Empowerment Center (SHEC) is a religious organization of the Rogationists of the Heart of Jesus. It is a community of Spirit-led persons which aims to follow Jesus Christ in his union with his Father and in his proclamation of the kingdom of God. It is an inserted community among the squatters. The goal of SHEC is to empower the poor people of Metro Manila, Philippines, through housing, livelihood, education, health, waste management, youth and values formation.

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Location: Pasay City, Metro Manila

Mission: Its mission is to empower the poorest of the poor and catalyze an integral Christian transformation of urban poor communities in collaboration with the local Church by a holistic process that addresses concerns on housing, livelihood, education, health, environment and sanitation, justice and peace, youth formation and values formation. The goals of SHEC consist of assisting in alleviating poverty among urban poor communities in Pasay and other cities in Metro Manila; and building the foundation of community transformation through intensive values formation. Its objectives are, specifically, to facilitate the organization and formation of people’s organization that are self-sufficient and empowered, facilitate the values and spiritual formation and capability building of urban poor leaders, to assist the urban poor / informal settlers of Pasay and other cities in Metro Manila in realizing their dreams of achieving security of tenure through in-city relocation, to facilitate the implementation of economic programs and basic social services in urban poor communities, and to facilitate access to formal education in favor of the poor and deserving students.

Thursday, January 26, 2006

Pasay City Government: a great help

Meeting with the City Mayor Peewee Trinidad together with the concerned agencies on housing, SHEC is given an assurance that the local government can take charge of the site development of the areas to be developed. The areas of priorities right now are the place razed by fire and the Bank of the Philippine Islands property as the relocation site of those along the danger zones. What a remarkable assistance!

Joining forces: a powerful tool

Motivated by an intension to assist the poor in their housing condition, partners came over to discuss ways in which their potentials can be put together. The following agencies have met to join with others their resources and fources: St. Hannibal Empowerment Center, National Home Mortgage Corporation, Habitat for Humanity, Housing Board of Pasay City and Barangay Officials & Bank of the Philippine Islands. Each group promised to carry out its task in order to help 600 families have their decent homes from the danger zones of Pasay City. What a power!

Monday, January 23, 2006

Moving Forward with National Housing Authority

With the desire to help the homeless people in their plight, the personnel from National Housing Authority came over to SHEC in order to conduct site inspection of the areas to be covered for the proclamation of lots. All of them expressed their willingness to support St. Hannibal Empowerment Center in solving the problem of security of tenure. With their appreciation of the work undertaken by SHEC, they asked if SHEC can extend possible assistance also to other depressed areas. With God's help, such housing projects are on the brink of eventual fulfillment if other agencies will also extend their support and assistance.

Empowering the poor: a miracle


Last January 13, 2006, a momentous event transpired in the history of St. Hannibal Empowerment Center (SHEC). This was the foundation day of SHEC. This was a day of thanksgiving because this marked the start of the journey of Fr. Dexter and other volunteers in living with the poor. In order to make it more meaningful, high officials from the Church and from the government were invited. From the side of the government, the President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo together with other concerned agencies were invited. From the Church, Archbishop Gaudencio Rosales and other high-ranking Church personnel were also present. From the Rogationists, Fr. General Giorgio Nalin and his councilors were also present.
Three key powerful persons were there gracing the event: Arroyo, Rosales and Nalin. With a single focus to empower the poor, all their powers were mustered. And so a miracle happened when they expressed their desire to help the poor with their utmost powers and capacities. Indeed, it was a miracle.