VECO builds Silid Pangarap in Liloan

CEBU, Philippines - Even with the rain, hearts were not gloomy at the Suba Elementary School in Liloan town, Cebu after the Visayan Electric Company (VECO) turned over a brightly-colored and well-equipped single storey, two-classroom school building for their preschoolers last week.

The building, which is named ‘Silid Pangarap,’ is a product of their partnership with the Aboitiz Foundation Inc., AGAPP (Aklat, Gabay, Aruga tungo sa Pag-angat at Pag-asa) Foundation and DepEd (Department of Education).

“Our classroom before was very small. It was very hot inside,” Kindergarten teacher Jaycel Pitogo shared. They have a range of seventy to more than a hundred preschoolers to cater to.

“We also had less toys and books to educate the kids with. We are very overwhelmed today because we now have very spacious rooms and more educational materials,” Pitogo added. A number of parents were also present to see the new building and witness the event.

Aside from the building, new books, toys, shelves, tables and chairs were also included in the turnover.

“This is the least thing that we can do. Education is very important,” VECO chief operating officer Anton Mari Perdices said during the turnover.

The Silid Pangarap is a project of AGAPPFoundation—a group headed by Pinky Aquino Abellada, sister to the former president Benigno Aquino III. AGAPP Foundation aims to provide 1,000 classrooms for the country. In VECO’s franchise areas, the foundation trains the teachers while the company builds the structure. Of the target number, Aboitiz Foundation, Inc. has donated 246 classrooms in 123 schools and VECO has built 16 classrooms in eight schools.

Since 2011, VECO has built Silid Pangarap buildings in the elementary schools of Cepoc, Tayud, Garing, Sangat, Maghaway, Vito, Tabok and Suba. These are schools in the franchise areas of VECO, which are the cities of Cebu, Mandaue, Talisay, Naga and the four municipalities of the greater part of Metro Cebu-Liloan, Consolacion, Minglanilla and San Fernando.

The AGAPP building in Liloan costs more than P1.2 million and was erected in four months.

Today, education before Grade I is a DepEd ruling. Studies have shown that children mentally develop faster if they have undergone kindergarten and preschool.

“We start the children early kay dali ra sila makat-on,” DepEd Schools Division Superintendent Dr. Rhea Mar Angtud explained.

With the recent change of government administration, this might be the last Silid Pangarap that VECO will build with AGAPP Foundation. However, the company still envisions continuing to help students and communities as part of its corporate social responsibility. Aside from the Silid Pangarap, VECO continues to spend millions for the electrical rewiring of selected schools for safety.

Furthermore, VECO also has more than 300 high school and college scholars as of today. The company pays for the tuition and books of these scholars.

“Study hard, work hard, and you can achieve anything that you want,” Perdices reminded. (FREEMAN)