In Eastern Visayas: Star's Operation Damayan turns over schoolbuildings

ORMOC CITY, Philippines — Nearly seven months after the Yolanda devastation, the Philippine STAR, through its humanitarian arm Operation Damayan, led by its president and CEO Miguel G. Belmonte and wife Milette, turned over a 5-classroom school building each to three schools in the Eastern Visayas region.

Belmonte said the STAR built and turned over the school buildings to the Legaspi Elementary School in Marabut, Samar, the Palo Central School in Palo, Leyte, and the Valencia Central School in Ormoc City.

He said the classrooms were built, since last March, from donations of readers, private individuals and employees of the Philippine STAR Group of Companies to the biggest project so far of Operation Damayan, headed by Ernie Cruz.

Each of the 5-classroom buildings have school chairs and equipment, a clinic and a library, complete with books, TV and computer sets, chairs and tables, with a toilet in every room. Epson also donated projectors, scanners and other digital equipment to the school, Belmonte said.

Here in Ormoc, the STAR Group turned over to the Department of Education the school building at the Valencia Elementary School, headed by its principal Melvyn Baldomar.

The turnover ceremony was attended by Leyte 4th district Rep. Lucy Torres-Gomez, a columnist of PhilStar, Ormoc City Mayor Edward Codilla and Vice Mayor Leo Carmelo Locsin Jr., among other city officials.

Belmonte, son of House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte, said the STAR chose Ormoc as one of the beneficiary LGUs because of Rep. Gomez, who is a very close friend to his family, upon the request of Baldomar to accommodate class sizes of 40 pupils or more.

The school in Valencia is one of Ormoc's biggest public schools, with almost close to 1,000 enrolled pupils. Baldemor, in thanking the STAR for choosing her school for the Damayan project, said: "We are lucky. There are still other schools that need help."

The turnover was festive and meaningful. The pupils were treated by the STAR to hotdogs and snack foods, and each of the pupils gifted with school bags and supplies, uniforms and slippers.

Belmonte described Operation Damayan as a sort of an "informal foundation" of the STAR Group but because of its high trust rating and confidence, they were able to raise funds easily.

Operation Damayan has been donating two 3-classroom buildings every year to various communities for the past 16 years. This year is an exception, though, because it donated the equivalent of a 3-year allocation. "The devastation is so much that we had to donate more this year," he said.

"As leaders of this generation, I consider it our responsibility to prepare the future generation; that's why adopting schools, especially those that have suffered from neglect, has become our advocacy. It is the STAR's way of supporting education and giving the children a better future," Belmonte said in a statement. (FREEMAN)