Aboitiz Power Corporation (AP), its wholly-owned subsidiary in the distribution group Davao Light & Power Co., in cooperation with its social development arm, the Aboitiz Foundation, Inc. (AFI), turned over last Wednesday, December 19, 2012, a new 6-classroom building to the Department of Education (DepEd), Davao City Division. It is constructed at the Catalunan Grande Elementary School campus at Catalunan Grande, Davao City.
The project cost about P5.4 million shared by Aboitiz Power and Davao Light and drawn from the Aboitiz Foundation with the Davao City government providing P710 thousand as its counterpart fund. Each room has its own lavatory, with tiled floors including the veranda and installed with ready-to-tap electric and water connections. It is also provided with low power consuming compact fluorescent lighting bulbs and rotating ceiling fans.
In addition, the Aboitiz-owned electric utility also donated to the Department a total of three hundred (300) wooden armchairs for the classes that will occupy the six rooms in the newly constructed building. Each room will also be provided with teacher’s chairs and tables.
AP First Vice President for Mindanao Affairs Manuel “Bobby” Orig who did the official turn-over together with Davao Light Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer (EVP-COO) Arturo M. Milan and City Vice Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte, told DepEd officials and the school administration that donation of school buildings is only one of several projects that the Aboitiz companies are undertaking to support the government’s “Adopt-a-School Program”.
Orig encouraged the teachers and students to make the most out of the new classroom facilities. He said the additional classrooms surely enhance the quality of education of the elementary students of the school. He added that the new rooms are conducive to improving teachers’ performance. Orig also cited a survey conducted by the Social Weather Station in Maguindanao where it was revealed that residents in the area find educating the children is most difficult in that Muslim-dominated province, and that while the interest to send the children to school is there, there is a huge gap in the availability of education facilities. Thus, Orig said, students and parents in Davao City, among them in Catalunan Grande, are luckier since the private sector, especially big businesses, are helping fill the gap.
In her own turnover message read for her by City Building Official Engr. Jaime Adalem, Davao City mayor Sara Z. Duterte-Carpio said that the new classrooms will help in a long way the Catalunan Grande Elementary School accommodate the growing number of students coming from the community. She also thanked the Aboitiz-owned Davao Light and Aboitiz Power for leading the way in helping government address the lack of classrooms.
Meanwhile, Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte in his speech said he wished he could thank the Aboitiz companies enough for helping solve problems that should be the primary concern of government. The vice mayor added that he did not expect that when he intimated to the Aboitiz executives in Davao the need for assistance to provide new classroom facilities in Catalunan Grande middle of September the school will be up and ready for classes this December.
He however, added that he is not surprised of the speed by which the problem is addressed. The vice mayor said the Local Government of Davao City has long been in partnership with Davao Light in many social projects and all these worked well up to completion.
For his part Barangay captain Paulo Z. Duterte in his message read for him by Barangay Councilor Jun Macahig, thanked Davao Light and Aboitiz Power, and the Aboitiz families for that matter, for their generosity and continuing support in efforts to improve the quality of education offered by the public educational system in Davao City specifically in his barangay. He said it is this support by stakeholders like the Aboitiz Power and its distribution utility Davao Light that encouraged the LGU of Davao City over the past years to work even harder despite the perennial problem of lack of resources.
Meanwhile, City Division Superintendent Dr. Helen D. Paguican lauded Aboitiz Power, Davao Light, Aboitiz Foundation, and the city government for jointly implementing the school building project. She said that by pooling their resources to be able to construct a new building the four entities just proved that a government-private partnership is viable even at the local level.
The Division Superintendent added that since the DepEd and the Aboitiz companies started its partnership on education projects some 30 school building with about 102 classrooms have been constructed and turned over in Davao City alone. Other than thanking Davao Light, Aboitiz Power and Aboitiz Foundation Paguican also thanked the city government and the Local School Board (LSB) for providing budget to meet the funding counterpart requirement.
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