The Center for Community Transformation (CCT) Group of Ministries, a nationwide movement that includes microfinance among its services, announced the appointment of Sandra Togonon as its new president. The organization also conferred the title of president emeritus on Ruth Callanta, CCT’s founder and long-serving president.
Togonon’s appointment was approved by the CCT Inc. board of trustees following a comprehensive search. The board, CCT’s highest decision-making body, also designated Callanta as president emeritus, granting her a lifetime advisory position.
This move recognizes her key role as founder, her decades of service as president and her visionary leadership that drove CCT’s growth.
Togonon, a seasoned human resources practitioner, has been involved with CCT since its early days, helping develop the Career Options for Post-Employment (COPE) program for retrenched workers.
The initiative laid crucial groundwork for the broader CCT movement. Most recently, in 2024, she led a nationwide organizational assessment and strategic planning process that engaged the CCT leadership council, board, and staff.
“We have recognized the immense value of her wisdom, experience, and institutional memory, and we look forward to her immeasurable role as a source of guidance and counsel to the incoming president Togonon and to the ministries of CCT as a whole,” said CCT board chairman Bertram Lim.
Callanta reflected on the transition. “We praise and thank God for His abiding presence and transformative power since the birth of CCT until this very day. After 34 years, I am transitioning to a new role. There is no retirement in ministry—only a change of assignment. Let us lift Sandy in our prayers and give her our full support as she leads us into opening new chapters for the CCT Group of Ministries,” she said.
From a single organization born in faith to a collective of 23 Christ-centered ministries, the CCT Group of Ministries has served vulnerable and marginalized communities across the Philippines for over three decades.
With microfinance as a primary entry point, CCT has established a strong community presence, reaching an estimated 1.4 million lives. It serves micro-entrepreneurs, street-dwelling individuals and families, children and youth, fisherfolk, farmers, tribal people, company-based and blue-collar workers, informal workers, pastors, Christian development workers, and the broader community.
CCT has been recognized by five Philippine presidents: Corazon Aquino, Fidel Ramos, Gloria Arroyo, Benigno Aquino III and Ferdinand Marcos Jr. Most recently, CCT received the Presidential Recognition for Outstanding Development Partner on Enhancing Management and Labor Capacities award for its work among the tribes in Malungon, Sarangani.
Founded in 1991, CCT is a movement of Christian development organizations working among the poor in the Philippines. It has a robust national presence with 140 offices across 16 regions, 56 cities, 38 provinces, and 56 municipalities.
