STUDENTS of Lawaan, Eastern Samar, would surely smile when they go to school in June.
They will be studying in a brand-new and furnished two-story, four-classroom school building at the Lawaan National School of Craftsmanship and Home Industries. The school building will be turned over by partner-benefactors BDO Foundation and Consuelo Foundation, in time for the opening of school year 2017-2018.
The Lawaan school was devastated by Supertyphoon Yolanda in 2013. Since it is situated in an area outside the poblacion, it has been overlooked by local and foreign aid and rehabilitation agencies.
Aside from school furniture and fixtures, Lawaan would also have computers and electronic facilities. The BDO and Consuelo Foundations equally shared the cost of the construction of the school building, with the project management handled by BDO.
The school accommodates about 850 students. More than 270 junior high-school students attended classes in dilapidated and make shift classrooms in the aftermath of Yolanda.
This is the second joint undertaking by BDO and Consuelo. The first was a school building in Giporlos National Trade School also in Eastern Samar, which was inaugurated and turned over to beneficiaries in June 2015.
The initiative was also part of Consuelo Foundation’s projects under its Haiyan Operations for Protection and Empowerment program, also known as Project HOPE.
A philanthropic organization founded by the late Consuelo Zobel Alger, Consuelo Foundation of Honolulu promotes the well-being of children and prevents and treats the abuse neglect and exploitation of children women and families all over the Philippines.
The joint project supports the Department of Education’s (DepEd) Adopt-A-School Program and addresses the need for more classrooms in the country.
With the Lawaan about to welcome its students with a new BDO-Consuelo building, the partner foundations recently forged a new agreement to construct two more school buildings with eight classrooms for Mondragon Agro-Industrial High School in Mondragon, Northern Samar. The project is the third to be undertaken by BDO and Consuelo with a 50-50 partnership.
Mondragon Agro-Industrial High School is a public technical-vocational high school, which specializes in agricultural and industrial education and serves 988 students. In the aftermath of Yolanda, more than 330 of its students had to attend classes in makeshift classrooms and in the school gymnasium.
Present at the signing of the memorandum of agreement were BDO Foundation President Mario Deriquito, BDO Foundation vice president and Program Director Rose Espinosa, BDO Foundation Trustee L. Jerome Guevara, Consuelo Foundation Director for Administration Anna Marie Chanco and Consuelo Foundation Director for Programs Nicanor O. Torre.
The new school building will be fully equipped. It will be constructed in accordance with specifications set by the DepEd and will have a similar design with school buildings built by SM Foundation, another program partner of BDO Foundation in line with its other projects. Espinosa said the chairs that come with the school building are built by persons with disability to help them earn a living.
“The initiative is in keeping with BDO Foundation’s disaster-response advocacy and long-term rehabilitation program in calamity-stricken provinces, which is the Foundation’s focus,” Deriquito said.
BDO Foundation is among the organizations that can immediately mobilize its volunteer corps when disaster strikes anywhere in the country because of its extensive network and through the help of SM Supermalls nationwide, Deriquito said.
The new school building is located about 15 kilometers from the BDO Samar-Catarman branch, which has been very active in supporting BDO’s disaster relief and rehabilitation programs.
Guevara said the volunteers come from the over 31,000-strong employees of BDO nationwide.
This is the third project under the BDO and Consuelo Foundations’ partnership.
“This attests to the trust and confidence the organizations have for each other, complementing each other to achieve each other’s objectives,” Consuelo Foundation Director for Programs Nicanor O. Torre said.
He added that like BDO, Consuelo also partners for projects by other foundations and organizations.