The Tan Yan Kee Foundation team brought early Christmas cheers to children (and adults alike) to Barangay Balete in Nueva Vizcaya last December 15. Balete is also the site of a seven-classroom school being built by the Foundation and named Tan Yan Kee Elementary School.

Residents of Barangay Balete, Santa Fe, Nueva Vizcaya, and its surrounding communities have a new reason to rejoice. A new seven-classroom school building is set to rise at the heart of the barangay – just a stone’s throw away from the barangay hall. The said structure will replace the facilities of the Balete Primary School which have long been condemned as unsafe due to massive termite infestation. 

Adult Learners receive Alternative Learning System (ALS) modules and school supplies from the Tan Yan Kee Foundation during the launching of the DepEd’s ALS Program in Barangay Balete, Santa Fe, Nueva Vizcaya. ALS is a DepEd Program that targets adult, out-of-school youth, and others who are unable to study under the traditional classroom-and-grade-level system. Present during the ceremony were Mayor Teodorico Padilla (2nd from left) and Vice Mayor Tidong Benito (leftmost).  Also in photo are Jocelyn Llanda and Elizabeth Pineda, managers of Allied Banking Corporation and Philippine National Bank, respectively (4th and 5th from left). Gracing the occasion but not in photo were DepEd District Supervisor Mona Liza Cabato, Head Teacher Alan Paclit, DepEd-ALS Mobile Teacher Roderick Peralta, and members of the City and Barangay Council.

The recent Mayon Volcano activity recalls the 2006 eruption when tons of mud and ash rushed along its slopes and surrounding areas. A subsequent typhoon then hit the Bicol Region and thick mud and boulders rushed down to surrounding villages causing the death of some 1,000 people and damage to countless establishments. Three years after the twin calamities hit Sorsogon, much has still to be done to restore damaged properties.  

Jaime Hilario Integrated School officials and representatives of the De La Salle brothers recently inaugurated their newest school building for the Bagac, Bataan school that caters mostly to children of fisher folks.

It can be recalled that in 2007, the Tan Yan Kee Foundation made a donation to the school for the construction of a two-classroom school building, with no less than foundation Chairman and President Dr. Lucio C. Tan handing the check to the DLSU brothers Emmanuel Sia and Mandy Dujungco, together with representatives of the De La Salle Alumni Association.

On top of the usual DepEd subjects the school’s curriculum also includes Agriculture, Fisheries, and Religion. The school also intends to instill among the young school children, a genuine care for the environment.

A pooling of efforts and resources: That’s what best describes the more recent project of the Tan Yan Kee Foundation for the Kalabaylabay Elementary and the El Salvador Central Schools located in Misamis Oriental. This undertaking was made possible by the generous contributions of various companies in the Lucio Tan Group.