Gina Lopez launches competition to help village economies

CEBU CITY-Former Environment Secretary Gina Lopez may no longer be part of the government but this doesn’t stop her from serving the public.

She has just launched a nationwide competition through her iLOVE (Investments in Loving Organizations for Village Economies) Foundation where the winning organizations will have the opportunity to undergo mentorship, get access to government grants, and be featured in a television show, among others.

“We don’t need a lot of money to get our people out of poverty. We just need to help each other,” she said during the Cebu leg of their roadshow on Tuesday afternoon.

Dubbed as the Quest for Love program, the competition will start with a shortlist of 16 groups that can be either social enterprises, cooperatives, people’s associations, foundations, non-government organizations, and other socially oriented organizations.

The program will be aired as a special segment on G Diaries, a one and a half hour television program every Sunday over the family-owned ABS-CBN.

The 16 organizations will later be trimmed to eight, which will receive financial and technical support, with the hope of spreading social and environmental development.

Lopez lamented that after her rejection as secretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), she could not work in the government or any agency or firm that has relations with the department.

This is why she said she was focusing her time and effort on iLOVE Foundation where she is the founder and chairman.

The top eight organizations will receive a P100,000 cash grant from iLOVE Foundation, individualized mentoring with successful and renowned entrepreneurs, on-the-ground field support, and direct access to government aid and services.

Application period for interested organizations will run until April 20. Applicants will have to fill out a form and submit a 3-minute video about their organization. More details are available at www.questforlove.ph.