Vic surprises Lakdayan students with goodies

MANILA, Philippines - June 18 was a red-letter day for students and teachers of the Lakdayan Elementary School when Eat, Bulaga! host Vic Sotto fulfilled a promise to pay them a visit and gave away books for their library, a brand new TV set and other audio-visual equipment.

The Lakdayan Elementary School in San Narciso, Quezon, three hours away from Lucena City, is the first beneficiary of Eat, Bulaga!’s EB Classroom Project.

The EB Classroom Project, which Vic spearheads along with the Dabarkads, is a noteworthy drive which seeks to refurbish and restore old, dilapidated classrooms in far-flung provinces.

Construction on the two new Lakdayan Elementary School classrooms began end of April this year. It was completed barely two months after, in time for the opening of classes on June 15.

With Vic in the Lakdayan trip were fellow Dabarkads Sen. Tito Sotto, Jose Manalo, Wally Bayola, Eat, Bulaga! producer Tony Tuviera and a number of the show’s staff.

More than 500 shrieking students and their teachers welcomed Vic and company as they inched their way into the relatively quaint campus.

The Eat, Bulaga! group was met by a festive mood complete with live entertainment from a rondalla and overly delighted children who were cheering and waving colorful balloons.

While there, Vic met with Dina Endrinal, the Lakdayan Grade III teacher who wrote and requested assistance from Eat, Bulaga! for the construction of their new classrooms.

Teacher Dina showed Vic around the newly-built classroom which has now new chairs and blackboards.

Vic also came face-to-face with Mark Steven Gosas, the Lakdayan Grade III pupil who patiently watched over the completion of the first EB Classroom Project, day in and day out.

Vic fondly referred to Mark as engineer and gifted the boy and the rest of the Lakdayan students with slippers and raincoats.

Incidentally, the EB Dabarkads distributed various school supplies and books to the Lakdayan students on the first day of school.

To show their appreciation, the Grade III class did a special dance number of Itaktak Mo much to their celebrity guests’ delight.

As if that wasn’t enough, they also gave Vic basketfuls of bananas and mangoes as well as a seedling planted in a tin can.

Each of the kids likewise gave Vic heartfelt and carefully-written thank-you cards which nearly sent him to tears as he read them one by one.