About Us

IT Tender was established in 2000 when Filipino couple John & Gela Basiwa saw the plight of children living on the streets addicted to sniffing solvents. They reached out by bringing food to the kids and building relationships. Over the years, more people came to help and they set up programs aimed at bringing about total transformation, with a predominant emphasis on education.

In 2013 the Basiwas turned over leadership to John Coffey from Canada. He has been traveling to the Philippines to work with IT Tender since 2006. He has a Bachelor of Honours Arts in Psychology and English from the University of Waterloo and a Bachelor in Elementary Education from the University of Toronto. Between short-term missions to the Philippines from 2006-2010, John volunteered in inner-city schools in Toronto teaching Kindergarten to Grade 6, he worked in group homes for adults with special needs, and he was an academic tutor and head counselor at a camp for children with special needs. In 2009 he committed to a one-year internship with International Teams and helped establish a daycare in a small community church. He returned to the Philippines in 2011 and studied the Tagalog language full-time to become fluent before serving in the various educational programs of IT Tender. As the executive director, John leads the IT Tender team in tandem with the Filipino program manager Jizza Malquisto. Jizza is the hands-on manager of each program and is also a registered social worker. Each of the Filipino staff are passionate about empowering the poor through access to education, relevant skills training, and mentoring.