Center for Organizing, Renewal, and Leadership - CORAL of Southeast Asia

15/01/2026

09/01/2026

Loving this! We only serve Kulay at CORAL. Visit us in Antipolo.

15/12/2025

This past week, CORAL hosted the first of two Songleaders Convergences in Cavite, Philippines—and our hearts are full.

More than 50 faith leaders, seminarians, youth, farmers, organizers, and cultural workers gathered in an open-air community space, where a vigil continues in the struggle for land and dignity. In a context shaped by poverty, displacement, and limited access to written worship resources or instruments, we centered song as a living spiritual practice—portable, collective, and deeply rooted in culture.

We were honored to host Rev. Sara Green, a Black UU minister, alongside Filipino facilitator Aimee Santos. Together, they modeled a popular education approach that honored the wisdom already present in the room. Youth and elders sang side by side, shared liberation songs, crafted simple rituals, reflected on song lineage, and began writing new music born from community struggle and hope.

This work grows out of long-term relationships and accompaniment through CORAL, an eight-year community ministry rooted in faith-based organizing and spiritual renewal in Southeast Asia. It reflects our belief that spiritual leadership is cultivated in community—and that meaningful exchange across cultures strengthens us all.

Next stop: Dumaguete, where our final convergence will be part of the national youth conference of the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Philippines.

With deep gratitude to our partners and supporters who make this work possible.

13/12/2025

Salamat sa Artists!

Beautiful visit with organizers from the Pacific Northwest (USA).

02/12/2025

Friends in the NCR area,

If you’re looking for a beautiful way to spend your evening and make a real difference, Akbayanihan is hosting a Christmas fundraiser this Dec 4th, 7pm at 70s Bistro — with the legendary Noel Cabangon offering his music and spirit in solidarity.

As many of you know, our communities in Cebu and Davao are still reeling from the earthquakes and the devastation brought by TY Tino and TY Uwan. The biggest need right now is reconstruction kits so families can rebuild and not face a cold Christmas.

If you’re nearby, I hope you’ll come through, enjoy a cold San Mig and the songs that have carried so many of us, and help strengthen the ongoing relief work. Your presence truly matters.

Sign up here for headcount: tinyurl.com/AwitNgPagbangon
Payment details in the posters below.

Let’s keep showing up for one another. Together, we help lift communities back into warmth, safety, and hope.

26/11/2025

November 21, 2025
Dear friends in faith,

This month, the Philippines has been struck by some of the most destructive typhoons in recent memory — storms that have brought catastrophic winds, torrential rain, and widespread flooding across the Negros Islands, where most of our 27 Unitarian Universalist congregations are located.

The Unitarian Universalist Church of the Philippines (UUCP) leadership is responding rapidly to what is the worst natural disaster in their nearly 70-year history. Eleven UU congregations and over 60 families were affected by the high winds and relentless rain. Some communities are without safe drinking water, without electricity, and without roads and bridges to bring help.

While we are deeply grateful that no serious casualties have been reported among UU members, the human toll around them is staggering. Over 200 lives were lost in the surrounding communities from landslides and flooding. Many UU families have lost their crops, and suffered damages to their homes. Several congregations have been damaged by the rains although the concrete structures have stood strong. In fact the UU churches served as evacuation centers and temporary housing. The community is coming together, finding refuge in shared care and song even amid great loss.

This is the climate front line — where communities who have contributed the least to global emissions are bearing the greatest cost. It is also a place with deep ties to our shared history: the Philippines was America’s largest and oldest colony, held under U.S. rule from 1898 to 1954, when American Unitarians played a visible role in the colonial project. Today, Filipino UUs continue to minister in the wake of that legacy, embodying resilience, liberation, and faith in action.

We are profoundly grateful for the many messages of care and offers of support already pouring in. UU partner churches, Filipino leaders, and Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) staff are in daily communication, organizing a coordinated response.

We have already received a $10,000 grant from the UUA Disaster Relief Fund to provide immediate aid — food, water, and basic supplies for the hundreds of families displaced. The UU Service Committee (UUSC) is also partnering with the UUA in this effort and is providing a $10,000 grant from their UUSC Emergency Response Fund.

As assessments continue and as we begin to repair and rebuild the 11 affected congregations, we invite you and your congregation to contribute to this vital relief effort. Every gift helps us meet both immediate and long-term needs in the islands.

Please give generously through the UUA Disaster Relief Fund, which supports UU congregations and recognized UU organizations affected by disaster, ensuring that aid reaches those most in need. You can also find more information if your congregation is interested in taking a special collection for the UUA Disaster Relief Fund.

Your donation allows our faith community to respond flexibly and faithfully — to current crises and to those yet to come. Through this covenant of care, between congregations who give and those in need, we embody what it means to be a global Unitarian Universalist community.

With gratitude, solidarity, and prayer for our siblings in the Philippines,
Rev. Arman Pedro, UU Church of the Philippines Church Administrator
Rev. Joseph Santos-Lyons, Community Minister
Rev. Morgan McLean, UUA Director of Global Connections

PS: A special Zoom call to connect with the UU Church of the Philippines will be held on Friday, December 12th, 7:00 PM Eastern for anyone interested in learning more about the relief efforts and be in global community. Hosted by Rev. Kevin Mann [email protected].

Please share this letter:

November 21, 2025 Dear friends in faith, This month, the Philippines has been struck by some of the most destructive typhoons in recent memory — storms that have brought catastrophic winds, torrential rain, and widespread flooding across the Negros Islands, where most of our 27 Unitarian Universa....

25/11/2025

For prophetic leaders renewing the gift of music that heals and moves us toward justice. 🎶✨

Join us this December for the Songleader Convergence — a gathering for faith-rooted organizers, seminarians, musicians, and community builders who feel called to the sacred work of leading people in song.

With Rev. Sara Green from New Orleans and local partners in Cavite and Dumaguete, we’ll explore the power of communal singing, embodied leadership, and music as a source of healing, grounding, and collective courage.

📍 Dec 18 — Dasmariñas, Cavite
📍 Dec 22 — Dumaguete City

Workshops, singing circles, community immersion, and space to deepen your songleading gifts.
Registration and details coming soon — reach out if you want to get involved or learn more.

Let’s lift our voices together. 🎵

05/11/2025

My heart is heavy as I write this from afar. This week, the Philippines—our extended Unitarian Universalist family there—has endured profound devastation. Typhoon Kalmaegi (locally named “Tino”) struck the Negros and Cebu regions with fierce winds (about 150 kph and gusts up to 205 kph) and unprecedented flooding. 

Initial reports from Rev. Arman Pedro of the UU Church of the Philippines indicate that ten of our small congregations on Negros Island—Malingin, Doldol, Inapugan, Amiles, Camandag, Ulay, Bagong Silang, Nataban, Aquino, and Samaka—are in the direct path of the storm, and we are still awaiting full updates as electricity and internet remain down.

In the central Philippines, the death toll has risen to at least 66 people, with dozens more missing and thousands displaced.  More than 200,000 people were evacuated. 

This is the 20th tropical storm/typhoon to hit the Philippines this year—already nearly double the number when I first served in the Philippines as a student minister in the early 2000s.  This fact alone reminds us both of the growing intensity of climate-impacts and of the enduring vulnerability of our partners in this region.

As many of you may know, the Philippines is the largest former colony of the United States. Our histories and futures are intertwined: the legacy of empire, migration, shared faith journeys and mutual resilience. In this moment of crisis, we do not stand apart from our Filipino sisters and brothers—we stand with them.

What we can do together:
• Hold our congregations on Negros and in Cebu in prayer, asking for protection, healing, and the rapid restoration of power, communication, and community life.
• Offer financial support if you are able, through trusted UU Philippines channels and relief partners assisting in the islands.
• Advocate for climate justice, remembering that while the Philippines contributes minuscule greenhouse gases, it bears enormous burdens of extreme weather.
• Share stories of our UU siblings in the Philippines to amplify their voices, honour their resiliency, and remind our wider community that this is not merely a “foreign disaster” but an urgent call to global solidarity.

Today I lift up the names of our ten congregations impacted and the many families, farmers, children, elders and neighbours who have lost homes, crops, livestock, and more. I honour Rev. Arman Pedro and his team for their commitment in the midst of blackout, loss, and anxiety.

May we be the living presence of care, connection, and mutual responsibility. May our prayers and actions emerge from deep compassion, not pity; from shared humanity, not distance. And may we remember that the path beyond disaster lies not only in rebuilding what was lost—but in transforming together toward a future where weather-terror and colonial legacy no longer determine life’s fragility.

10/10/2025

Rest in Power, Kent Wong

We mourn the passing of Kent Wong, founding president of the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA) — a visionary leader, mentor, and champion of justice. Kent’s tireless work built APALA from the ground up, giving voice and power to Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) workers in the labor movement. His spirit, boundless energy, and lifelong commitment to racial and economic justice will continue to inspire generations.

Thank you, Kent — for your leadership, love, and legacy.

02/10/2025

Dear friends, the Philippines is experiencing FOUR simultaneous disasters right now - Typhoon Nando and Opong which affected the North (Batanes, Cagayan, Isabela, Pangasinan, Bicol and Masbate), Cebu Earthquake which severely affected Northern Cebu, and we are on standby for Taal Volcanic eruption and TY Paolo which will hit landfall by Fri.

Most local govts are positioned and capacitated to respond but the scale is overwhelming. Just last month many cities were flooded by TY Crising, Dante and Emong which came one after another. These new disasters are hitting communities that have barely recovered and hitting hardest poor municipalities that were already vulnerable. And as you may have heard, the country is gripped with corruption scandals as the billions of pesos of public funds meant for flood control projects were all stolen.

Our org Akbayanihan Foundation is responding (and preparing to respond) to the earthquake and incoming typhoons. We have heard from the mayor of Daanbantayan, Cebu - the hardest hit community by the earthquake. Many folks are already sending foodpacks and water supplies. What we are mobilizing for are (1) Shelter kits - tents, tarps, kitchen utensils, walter filtration systems, (2) Energy kits - solar lamps, solar charging units, (3) Family kits - baby and adult diapers, menstrual pads, hygiene kits.

THANK YOU! If you are able and interested in supporting our work, you can send donations thru multiple portals incldg paypal account ([email protected]) for overseas donors. We would be grateful for your helping hand at this time of multiple crises.

08/09/2025

Hear Grace Nono at UP Vargas Museum Sept 10, 3pm.