Novartis partners with ABS-CBN Foundation to help students

MANILA, Philippines - Novartis Phils. joined forces with ABS-CBN Foundation and Sagip Kapamilya in helping 3,400 students from six public elementary schools in Cabuyao, Laguna ravaged by flooding caused by howlers Ondoy, Pepeng and Santi last year.

ABS-CBN Foundation is the socio-civic arm of ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp. Sagip Kapamilya is the foundation’s emergency humanitarian assistance program.

Novartis Phils. donated P1 million to the ABS-CBN Foundation, which oversaw the implementation of a Calamity Assistance Program last Dec. 18.

The program consisted of relief operations, medical mission and distribution of school supply kits in the following schools in Cabuyao, Laguna:

• Bigaa Elementary School (701 students affected). Students commuted to school by bancas and makeshift rafts.

• Butong Elementary School (840 students affected). Many of its classrooms were destroyed by floodwaters.

• Marinig South Elementary School (400 students affected). Floodwaters destroyed books and desktop computers, inundated the school quadrangle, and completely destroyed the school’s protective wall which put students at risk of drowning in a nearby lake.

• Gulod Elementary School (525 students affected). Classrooms were destroyed by floodwaters and a portion of the school had to be abandoned.

• Baclaran Elementary School (733 students affected). The school served as an evacuation center housing about 100 families, which disrupted classes for weeks.

• Mamatid Elementary School (200 students affected). The school which also served as an evacuation center was severely affected by floodwaters.

“We are privileged to work with the ABS-CBN Foundation and Sagip Kapamilya in easing the burden of calamity-affected elementary students in Cabuyao. This humanitarian assistance initiative is part of our corporate social responsibility and is consistent with our company’s ‘caring and curing’ character,” said Eric van Oppens, president and CEO of Novartis Phils.

“We thank the officials, teachers and most of all the students of these schools for giving Novartis and our partners the privilege to lend a helping hand. We also acknowledge the invaluable contribution of Philippine STAR columnist Bum Tenorio Jr. who was instrumental in identifying the affected schools and organizing the relief operations,” said Christine Liwanag, corporate affairs and market access director of Novartis Phils.

“We hope that the act of receiving the school supply kits will serve as the students’ symbolic first step toward rebuilding their lives, and make them feel that in their darkest hour they had friends who did not abandon them,” said Tenorio.

The elementary students and their teachers and parents expressed their gratitude through simple but profoundly heart-warming handwritten notes and plaques of appreciation.

In a plaque of appreciation, the faculty and students of Marinig South Elementary School as well as their parents expressed “their sincere and profound gratitude” to their benefactors who showed their “concern and sympathy to the plight of our community.”

The pupils of Grade 5 Section D of Gulod Elementary School signed their names on bond paper ornately bordered by flower- and bubble-shaped cut-outs with a big, felt-tip pen-written “Maraming salamat po” at the center.

“Mga munting puso namin ay natutuwa. Salamat po sa inyong maagang papasko,” wrote students of Butong Elementary School.