The Project All-U.S. Cultural Dance Tour is a program spearheaded by the Beautiful Heart Foundation, Inc., an affiliate organization of the ABM International Consultancy and is aimed to raise funds for the construction of a public healthcare facility in the municipality of Datu Paglas, Maguindanao, Philippines. It shall be in the form of exotic Filipino dances, showcasing the rich culture of the Filipino Muslim community of the Philippines. The participating dancers are Muslim Filipinos who are residents of Datu Paglas, specifically those employed in the banana plantations of the municipality. At present, the municipality of Datu Paglas is only one of the many depressed and marginalized municipalities of Mindanao. It has a poor health situation due to the prevalent poverty of the families. Although the municipality has quite improved in terms of employment in the banana plantation for some residents, the basic services such as education and health has been insufficient and lagging behind in terms of national government unit support. There is no health center or any private professional health practitioners.There is hope for alleviation of the health situation due to the commitment of the employee-dancers to help initiate the raising of initial funds to build an appropriate health facility, in close coordination with the Datu Paglas Group of Companies/Local Government Unit of Datu Paglas and through the facilitation of the Beautiful Heart Foundation, an affiliate of the ABM International Consultancy, a U.S.-based company. The intention of fund raising through the presentation of authentic Muslim dances from the Philippines by the Filipino residents of Datu Paglas as a worthwhile endeavor was their idea. To raise funds, the Dance Troup will schedule performances in pre-selected key cities in the United States, for two months. Designated Filipino-American families will host the local board and lodging in the United States. The big challenge is how they can travel to the U.S. because they can not afford the airfares and Visas. They can, however afford the cost of securing passports. The Project aims to raise the needed funds as a grant seed money. It will be used as a bridge fund for airfares and related travel expenses, as well as for printing of tickets and advance payment for the U.S. Venue, if required. A Memorandum of Agreement between the Datu Paglas Group of Companies and the Beautiful Heart Foundatio/ABM International Consultancy will be executed to ensure that the money raised will be utilized for the intended purpose of the fund raising project. Datu Paglas, is a small, agriculture-based municipality located in Maguindanao Province, in the southern Island of Mindanao, Philippines. It has an estimated mid-year population of 30,000 people, majority of which are Muslim Filipinos. 90% of the population are farmers/land tillers, the main agricultural produce is banana. The remaining estimated 10% are unemployed. Due to the prevalent poverty of the population, the health professions are not motivated to stay and make a living out of their professions. So there are no doctors, dentists or nurses. For almost all health care needs, the people have to travel about 10 kilometers to see a doctor, that is if they can afford it at the time of need. The only time health professionals come to Datu Paglas is during free medical missions done by local organizations. Even these are not regular, and only invite the attitude of dependency among the people. The residents realize the need to participate in their own health care, beginning with the construction of their health facility.

If a health facility can be constructed, the Datu Paglas Group of Companies can seek National and Local Government Unit resources allocation for at least a Nurse or Midwife to manage the facility. A rural physician may be arranged to schedule hours of consultations.Actual ocular visits and survey were conducted in July 2005 and February 2006 by Dr. Anacleto B. Millendez, CEO of ABM International Consultancy and founder of the Beautiful Heart Foundation. Initial arrangements were explored for the possibility of joint and collaborative planning, logistics pooling and successful implementation of the Project with Datu Ibrahim Pendatun Paglas III, President of the Datu Paglas Group of Companies.The Project All-U.S. Cultural Dance Tour is a concerted community effort to raise funds for the health facility to be constructed in Datu Paglas, Maguindanao, Philippines. It is a joint effort of the Datu Paglas Group of Companies, the Bayanihan Cultural Organization of the U.S., and the Beautiful Heart Foundation thru the ABM International Consultancy. To maximize fund raising, the residents are willing to spend at most two months as Cultural Dance performers in a scheduled tour in the United States. The schedule is tentatively set depending on the readiness of the visas of the performers and the availability of funds for their travel. For further information about project, please visit http://www.allusculturaldancetour.freewebspace.com.