Friday, February 01, 2008 New Lahug school building opens
AFTER almost a year of bickering with the Cebu City mayor, Lahug Barangay Captain Mary Ann delos Santos finally saw the outcome of a project she pursued without the City Government’s help.
Delos Santos led the blessing and inauguration of the new four-classroom building of the Lahug Central School.
She did so with Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia, whom she considered an ally in the construction of the project.
When Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña halted the construction of a 20-classroom building for the Lahug Elementary School, delos Santos initiated the “Piso mo, eskwelahan ko” fundraising project.
She gathered a total of P5,168,00.45. The Provincial Government gave P5 million.
Only a four-classroom building worth P2.2 million was approved for construction by the City Government. The balance is safely tucked in the bank.
The amount raised would have been enough to make eight classrooms.
“Eight months ago, the construction of 20 classrooms was stopped by a city official in a fit of anger toward me,” delos Santos said.
“Thanks to the governor, the four-classroom school building is not just made of cement and hollow blocks, it is also a product of love,” delos Santos told the 120 teachers who gathered in the gymnasium, while some students looked on from their classrooms.
Garcia said that while it is easy to say that politics was behind her move to donate P5 million to delos Santos’ project just to spite the mayor, she did it for her belief in “one Cebu.”
“The borders that lie between the City and the Province are artificial. These cannot separate us from the thing that matters most, that we are all Cebuanos,” Garcia said in her speech.
In a symbolic turnover ceremony, Garcia handed a school key to delos Santos, who in turn gave it to school principal Faith Misa. (JGA)
