Tarlac Aetas will soon surf the wilds of cyberspace

SITIO KALANGITAN, Capas, Tarlac — Young Aetas in this upland village will soon be surfing the wilds of cyberspace once telephone lines, or even wireless Internet connections, are installed here.

The Aetas have been living together with unats (lowlanders) in this community after they were displaced by the Mt. Pinatubo eruption in 1991.

Last Tuesday, 21 out-of-school youths, one of them a female Aeta, were given certificates for having completed a six-month basic computer literacy training program.

The computer training is an ongoing joint project of the office of Gov. Jose Yap Sr., the state-owned Clark Development Corp. (CDC), the German consortium Clark Solid Waste Management Corp. (CSWMC), the elementary and high schools at the Kalangitan resettlement, and the US-based California Technological Care Foundation Inc.-Philippines (CTCFI-Phils).

By the end of the month, the CDC’s Elena Valderrama said 50 other Aeta high school and elementary students here will be completing the computer literacy program.

Yap and Tarlac third district Rep. Jesli Lapus have given their all-out support to the project.

In Tuesday’s simple graduation rites, Yap said the program’s first batch of graduates is "more fortunate than I am, because, unlike me, they now know how to use the main gadget that has ushered the global revolution of information technology."

Also witnessing the ceremonies were Capas Mayor Reynaldo Catacutan and barangay officials, who were all awed by the project, which is also being supported by the Bidani Foundation, Fish for Peace, LBC-USA and the Department of Education.

CTCFI-Phils. donated five computers and a printer for the young students and out-of-school youths. The CSWMC, on the other hand, provided desks and chairs.

The CSWMC’s involvement in the computer literacy program is part of the German-owned BN Consultants’ community development program in this village, which hosts the 100-hectare sanitary landfill project which the CDC awarded to the consortium under a 25-year build-operate-transfer contract.