Antonio "Tony" Meloto (born January 17, 1950) is the founder of

Gawad Kalinga Gawad Kalinga (GK) ("to give care" in Tagalog) is a Philippine poverty alleviation and nation-building movement known officially as the Gawad Kalinga Community Development Foundation. Its mission is to end poverty for 5 million families by 2024. ...

, a

Philippine The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

-based

poverty alleviation Poverty reduction, poverty relief, or poverty alleviation, is a set of measures, both economic and humanitarian, that are intended to permanently lift people out of poverty. Measures, like those promoted by Henry George in his economics clas ...

movement. Meloto was named 2006 "Filipino of the Year" by the

Philippine Daily Inquirer The ''Philippine Daily Inquirer'' (''PDI''), or simply the ''Inquirer'', is an English-language newspaper in the Philippines. Founded in 1985, it is often regarded as the Philippines' newspaper of record. The newspaper is the most awarded br ...

Early life and career

Antonio Meloto was born on January 17, 1950 in Bacolod,

Negros Occidental Negros Occidental ( hil, Nakatungdang Negros; tl, Kanlurang Negros), officially the Province of Negros Occidental, is a Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines located in the Western Visayas Regions of the Philippines, region. ...

to a middle-class family. He took his senior high school year at

De Anza High School De Anza High School is a secondary school located in Richmond, California, United States, named after Spanish explorer Juan Bautista de Anza. It is part of the West Contra Costa Unified School District and serves northeast Richmond, the unincorp ...

in Richmond, California as an American Field Service scholar. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in Economics degree from

Ateneo de Manila University , mottoeng = Light in the Lord , type = Private, research, non-profit, coeducational basic and higher education institution , established = December 10, 1859 , religious_affiliation = Roman Catholic ( Jesuits) , academic ...

, studying as a full academic scholar and graduating in 1971. He then took a job as a purchasing manager for

Procter and Gamble The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) is an American multinational consumer goods corporation headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble. It specializes in a wide range of personal health/consumer hea ...

Couples for Christ and Gawad Kalinga

Meloto became an active member of

Couples for Christ The Couples for Christ (CFC) is an international Catholic lay ecclesial movement whose goal is to renew and strengthen Christian values. It is one of 123 International Associations of the Faithful. The organization is linked to the Vatican thr ...

in 1985 and quickly rose in leadership, having a key role in establishing CFC Family Ministries in 1993. In 1995 he began a youth development program for juvenile delinquents in

Caloocan Caloocan, officially the City of Caloocan ( fil, Lungsod ng Caloocan; ), is a 1st class highly urbanized city in Metropolitan Manila, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 1,661,584 people making it the fourth-most ...

. The program evolved into

, a global movement for building sustainable communities within slum areas. In 2006 he was awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership.

Criticism

In May 2015, Meloto generated controversy for allegedly sexist remarks made at a conference at the

University of Hawaii at Manoa A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...

References

External links

Gawad Kalinga
{{DEFAULTSORT:Meloto, Tony 1950 births Living people Filipino philanthropists People from Bacolod Ramon Magsaysay Award winners Ateneo de Manila University alumni Winners of the Nikkei Asia Prize