Our Story
The roots of Lift PH Up Organization, Inc. were planted unexpectedly in early April 2024, far from any boardroom, in the quiet municipality of Paluan, Occidental Mindoro, Philippines.
We were invited to Paluan, a third-class municipality of roughly 17,000 residents, where nearly 35% of the population are the Mangyan people, the Indigenous inhabitants of Mindoro.
Beyond the Statistics: A Stark Reality
That initial meeting was our first, raw introduction to the Mangyans. We weren’t interested in textbook facts; we wanted to understand the unspoken realities—the statistics that fail to capture the human condition. The meeting quickly zeroed in on two critical, repeating issues: education and hunger.
What was revealed was stark:
- Poverty and Land: The Mangyan people, primarily surviving through kaingin farming, often do not own their land, leading to chronic dependence..
- The Hunger Cycle: Families scramble for food, especially during the pre-harvest periods. Compounded by non-viable farm-gate prices for rice, hunger is rampant, reportedly among the highest in Mindoro.
- Barriers to Education: Despite exhibiting a high rate of literacy for the island, many children are excluded from formal schooling simply because their parents lack the birth certificates required for enrollment or are too poor to sustain their child’s attendance.
The Defining Moment
The resolve to act solidified months later. In October 2024, partnering with Rise Against Hunger Philippines, we participated in a feeding program for approximately 300 Mangyan children in Sitio Ulasan, Barangay Harrison. It was a single, shattering observation from a volunteer that cemented our purpose: for many of these children, the meal we served was either their very first or their only meal of the entire day.
This heartbreaking scene was repeated as we moved to other impoverished communities in Paluan throughout early 2025. It was in the face of this persistent, utter poverty that we made a firm and solemn decision: we had to do something.
Lift PH Up Organization, Inc. was officially formed later in 2025. We started with no deep pockets, no significant assets, and no large foundation—just a simple, unyielding resolve born from seeing the kindest people living in the harshest conditions.
For the Mangyan people of Paluan, Occidental Mindoro, our mission is now clear: To mobilize direct aid and community resources to address the urgent challenges of hunger and educational barriers facing the Indigenous Mangyan people of Mindoro. We want to see a Philippines where the Mangyan people thrive with food security, equal access to education, and the dignity of self-sufficiency.
