GEN. Santos City––The P1-million donation to the Diocese of Marbel of comedianne and actress Melai Cantiveros for emerging as the grand winner of television contest “Your Face Sounds Familiar” will go a long way in terms of support for its programs. Fr. Gillarme Joy Peliño, director of the diocese’s Social Action Center, said Tuesday they will mainly utilize Cantiveros’s donation to fund the improvement and expansion of its Alay Kapwa program. He said the Alay Kapwa program, which is implemented by the SAC, focuses on the provision of livelihood and social services to poor ans marginalized residents within the diocese. The Diocese of Marbel covers his city, Koronadal City and the provinces of South Cotabato and Sarangani. "We are very happy and thankful that she (Cantiveros) chose Alay Kapwa program as the charity recipient of her winning prize," Peliño said. The priest said they are currently working on the expansion of the program's health component, specifically the operations of its processing plant for herbal medicines. He said the project involves the production of capsulized herbal medicines that it sells through its network of distributors. Peliño said the donation will also be used to fund its relief and rehabilitation initiatives for disaster-stricken areas and individuals as well as scholarship program for "poor but deserving students" in the area. He said they currently serve 10 tertiary or college scholars who are enrolled in various colleges and universities in the area. "It will also help us advance further our advocacies, programs and projects for the protection and preservation of the environment, especially our natural resources," he said. Cantiveros, who hails from this city, earlier selected the diocese and its Alay Kapwa program as charity beneficiary when she was picked to join the inaugural celebrity edition of the "Your Face Sounds familiar" contest, which was aired over television station ABS-CBN. She topped the contest, which involved the impersonation of participants of pre-selected singers, during its grand finals last Sunday. Last May, Cantoveros personally turned over an initial P50,000 to the diocese after she reached the show's semi-final round. Cantoveros had attributed her successful run in the contest to her chosen charity. "I am so blessed maybe because the charity I've chosen is a church," she said.-PNA