While most companies and agencies were partying in celebration of the Christmas season, the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authorities (SBMA) and some business locators and concerned groups in this free port were busy reaching out to indigent communities in the area.
The annual gift-giving activity, said SBMA Chairman Roberto Garcia, are part of the continuing commitment of the SBMA and various groups in the Subic Bay Freeport to share with indigent communities around the free port the blessings they receive each year.
“This is not any other donation or relief operation,” Garcia clarified. “This is sharing, in our humblest way, the blessings that Subic Freeport has received and will be receiving in the future.”
Garcia said that aside from the SBMA, many locator-companies in Subic coordinated with the agency to identify beneficiary communities for their gift-giving projects in line with their corporate social responsibility program.
Some of the recipients of the outreach projects by the SBMA and Subic locators were Aeta communities at Sitio Tralala in Olongapo City; Mampweng and Pastolan villages in Hermosa, Bataan; and Timac in Morong, Bataan.
Meanwhile, at the Nagbayan Elementary School in Castillejos, Zambales, a 600-liter water tank was installed and turned over by the Busan National University of Education (BNUE) in Korea to the public school to help ensure a clean and potable water system for its 300 students and teachers.
On behalf of Garcia, SBMA deputy administrator for administration Robert Martinez acknowledged the Korean state university for its benevolence and SBMA deputy administrators Knette Fernando and Raul Marcelo, public relations manager Armie Llamas, and Korean Freeport locator Vincent Chun for their efforts in tapping kind-hearted organizations for the benefit of poor communities nearby.
“They are the people who are responsible in getting our gift-giving program going. We should thank them for their efforts in inviting good Samaritans in our community to help the poor, especially this Christmas season” he said.
On his part, BNUE president Dr. Kim Sung Yon expressed his commitment in helping local communities, especially school children whom he described as future leaders of the country, as a gesture of gratitude for the heroism of Filipinos.
“Our history tells of a special relation between the Philippines and South Korea. We will not forget the (Filipino) troops who fought with us during the Korean War,” he said.
Kim added that with the assistance of the SBMA and local government units, BNUE will continue with its community projects to help improve the system of education for the benefit of the children and their future.
In Nagyantok, Subic, Zambales, teachers and students of the College of Subic Montessori (CSM) visited the Nagyantok Elementary School Annex to distribute assorted toys, school supplies and food packs to 290 pupils. The Montessori groups also conducted fun games and presented some song and dance numbers to cheer the less fortunate children.
CSM president Soledad Maningding said that the school’s gift-giving project was made possible through the initiatives of students.
“Instead of having an expensive Christmas party, the CSM high school and elementary students opted to collect used and new clothes, canned goods, toys, and even some personal savings to donate to the students in Nagyantok,” Maningding added.
She noted that CSM students and their parents are already planning to make the gift-giving project a yearly commitment as a way of sharing blessings to the less-privileged. (SBMA Corporate Communications)
PHOTO: Dr. Kim Sung Yon, president of Busan National University of Education (3rd from left) and Castillejos Mayor Jose Angelo Dominguez inaugurate a water tank donated to the Nagbayan Elementary School in Castillejos, Zambales. Assisting in the ceremony are SBMA deputy administrator for corporate communications Knette Fernando (right), officials of the Castillejos-Department of Education and representatives of Busan University.
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