CITY of San Fernando Mayor Edwin Santiago and 7-Eleven Philippines CEO Jose Victor Paterno personally inaugurated the “Every Day! Play!” Community Playground at the Barangay Sindalan Complex recently.

The City of San Fernando is the first beneficiary of this project in the province, which is dedicated to the children and community of Sindalan and nearby villages, through the joint efforts of 7-Eleven and its corporate social responsibility arm, PhilSeven Foundation, Inc., and City Social Welfare and Development Office (CSWDO).

In an interview, Paterno stated that preserving “public space” is vital, especially for children longing for a time to play and interact.

“Our vision in building playgrounds is to preserve public space and provide an outdoor space for the community to gather, children to play, and parents to get to know one another,” he said.

PhilSeven has been building around ten playgrounds in the country over the past three years, having its first of its kind in Pampanga.

“We have collaborated with the City of San Fernando because we believe in the city government and after meeting them, we believed in them even more now,” added Paterno.

CSWD officer Aileen Villanueva remarked that this is a gateway for the city to promote its Child Development Centers as play-based ones.

“Through this, we can promote better our play-based child development centers. The playground system in Sindalan will help children in their outdoor activities,” said Villanueva.

For his part, Santiago shared that the city always pushes barangays to be child-friendly villages.

“We are among the child-friendly cities in the Philippines because of the CSWDO. With this community playground, we can make children feel that they are important. We thank PhilSeven for partnering with us to achieve our mission,” Santiago said. (PR)