By Celeste Anna R. Formoso
Lu of MacroAsia donates books to Linao Elementary School.
GOOD NEWS for students in Southern Palawan.
The Department of Education (DepEd) has approved a proposal from its Palawan Office to make the Macroasia Mining Corporation (MMC)-donated building in barangay Ipilan, Brooke’s Point as a “Library Hub” for the whole Southern Palawan.
In a letter sent to the MMC on December 15, 2008, Teresita P. Marcial, the OIC assistant schools division superintendent of DepEd-Palawan, Region IV MIMAROPA, said that their representation to the presentation and evaluation of proposed library hubs last September 2008 at the Marikina Hotel in Manila merited the approval of making the P1 million worth library building the mining corporation donated into a library hub.
Marcial wrote that the DepEd Central Office has agreed to “grant P1 million worth of assorted books that could benefit students and readers from all parts of Southern Palawan.
The information about granting the amount was informed to Marcial by Ted C. Sangil, Jr., the undersecretary for finance and administration of the DepEd Central Office.
Sangil said the amount is being granted under the Library Hub Application for Batch 4 and that the regional office of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has been requested to release the P1 million.
“With this, you may start processing the initial requirements of the project, such as the MOA with your sponsor, clearing of the hub site, drafting of technical design/plan, including the program of works (in coordination with your physical facilities coordinator or engineering or engineering team of your sponsor); and the like. If the sponsor has available resources, you may likewise proceed,” he wrote Marcial.
Christopher C. Lu, the vice president for facilities management of Macroasia, said they are happy about the news that would put a premium on education in Southern Palawan.
“Macroasia is proud to be a part of giving many students in Southern Palawan the opportunity to improve their reading skills and to discover their potentials through reading. With the DepEd equaling our donation, we are hopeful that there will eventually be an increase in literacy, not just in Brooke’s Point, but in other areas in the south,” he said.
The DepEd library hub project is aimed at establishing “book depots” in the country to instill a culture of reading among young people and “to make every Filipino child a reader.”
The library building at the Ipilan National High School (INHS) was inaugurated on August 28 last year as part of MMC’s responsible mining and corporate social responsibility goals.
