Monday, July 23, 2007 Petron builds second school in Sarangani
GLAN, Sarangani -- Petron Foundation is set to build another three-classroom school in a coastal village here, bringing to five the growing number of schools in Southwestern Mindanao from the oil corporation.
In 2005, Petron built its first three-classroom building in Mindanao in Barangay Pangyan, Glan under its Adopt-A-School Program.
Governor Miguel Dominguez and local officials graced the groundbreaking ceremony of a three-classroom building donated by Petron in coastal barangay Kapatan, Glan on Wednesday.
"This represents our commitment for the gift of education especially in places where it is needed most," Petron representative Johnny Evangelista said.
"We see the Petron schools as the lasting legacy for the youth."
This brings to five the Petron schools in Southwestern Mindanao, according to Evangelista.
Two are in Sarangani while the other three schools were distributed in Datu Paglas and Sultan sa Barongis in Maguindanao; and in New Iloilo, Tantangan, South Cotabato.
Evangelista added more schools will be built by the company in Camp Abubakar, Tawi-Tawi, Datu Ampatuan, Lamitan, and Marawi City.
He said "we are happy doing this together with our partners," the Conrado Alcantara Foundation Inc., Philippine Business for Social Progress, Department of Education, Gawad Kalinga, Habitat for Humanity, and the local government units.
"Petron schools came as a result of the disturbing fact that 4,000 barangays in the Philippines have no schools within their community," Evangelista said.
"While the government has been very earnest with all its effort to close the gap, (it) saw the need of other sectors like us," Evangelista said.
Dominguez said parents and teachers must be active in seeking for assistance from the benefactors.
"What we expect from you is your community involvement by supporting your children," the governor said.
In the country, Petron's Tulong Aral Program enables 1,000 pupils to go to school every year. It also provides reading program for the school's curriculum and trainings of teachers.
"We all planned for this. Now we are given the opportunity to make it happen," school principal Dulcesimo Alfafara said.
