Dear Filipino Community Leaders: 

May the Peace of Christ be always with you wherever you are! 

The Lipa Archdiocesan Commission on Migrants and Mission (LACMMI) with the paternal support of our Archbishop Ramon C. Arguelles, D.D. has developed a program to provide pastoral care to Batangueno migrants and their families. 

We are slowly establishing the PASAMPA (Pamparokyang Samahan ng Migranteng Pamilya) to provide formation, training and education to the migrants (OFW) and their families left behind. We are now strengthening the organization ANAK Batangueno (Mga Anak ng Nangingibang-bansang Batangueno) in the Catholic schools of the Archdiocese (Batangas). Now they are reaching out to children of OFW (migrants) from non-Catholic private schools and public schools. We provide pastoral care and guidance to these Children left behind by parents working and living abroad. 

We also assist OFW (migrants) when they encounter difficulties and problems through the assistance of ECMI (Episcopal Commission on Migrants and Itinerants) and government institution like OWWA, POEA and DFA. 

We need to build up our membership base and generate whole-hearted support from the migrants (OFW) themselves. We request that you initiate Batangueño organizations (if you still don’t have one.) in the country or city you are working in and make connection with us. We will recognize your association or organization and affiliate you with us. We will provide you memberships with our programs and you can avail of our pastoral care programs for you and your families. 

You can access our programs and activities in our website: www.archlipa.org/commission/lacmmi. You are invited to send messages and feedback to our programs through this site. We are more than willing to assist you in any way possible. Please allow, encourage, and support your families left here in our province to be part of us by being members of PASAMPA in each parish and ANAK Batangueño in each school or parish. 

We hope to make the program for migrants and their families effective and meaningful for all of you. But we need your support. Please join and support our programs. Please spread this to our kababayans in your area of work. Please explain the beauty of the program that will cater to a solid human, moral and spiritual program for all. 

We hope more people can gain access of this message. With your chaplain’s pastoral assistance, guidance and support, we can foster further our pastoral care program for the migrants and their families here in our Archdiocese. Eventually, we hope our program will rub itself to other dioceses. 

We believe that God is guiding and nurturing us in our program because we continue to have more and more volunteers from the parishes and schools willing to serve their fellow migrants. When God is with us who can go against us? We continue to believe and to hope that this ministry will grow to its desired goal of reaching out more and more Batangueño migrants and their families all over the world and all over our Archdiocese. 

We thank you so much! Rest assured of our constant prayers for you. Please include us also in your prayers. God bless! 

Sincerely in Christ,

Rev. Fr. Joselin (Jojo) C. Gonda
Director