CitySavings heeds DepEd’s call to help Marawi learners
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DepEd and CitySavings officials during the turnover of the school supplies and hygiene kits for Marawi learners last July 7 at DepEd Complex, Pasig City (L-R) DepEd Project Development Officer II for External Partnerships Service Zeny Lastimoza, CitySavings Reputation Management Head Paula Ruelan, DepEd Director IV for External Partnerships Service Dr. Margarita Ballesteros, DepEd Assistant Secretary for Legislative Affairs and Partnerships and External Linkages Atty. Tonisito Umali, CitySavings President and CEO Catalino Abacan, and CitySavings Board Member Carlos Valarao.
Last July 7, City Savings Bank (CitySavings) turned over 200 school and hygiene kits to the Department of Education (DepEd) at DepEd Complex, Pasig City, in response to their call for assistance to address the needs of school children who have been displaced from their schools due to the continuing onslaught of the insurgency in Marawi City, Lanao del Sur.
"Upon learning DepEd's appeal to help the school children of Marawi, hesitation never crossed my mind. Thus, I am so elated for the quick reaction of our Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) team to provide a donation in our own little way. I am sure that all of us in CitySavings believes in the wisdom of our National Hero, Dr. Jose P. Rizal that the ‘Youth is the Hope of our Future’. CitySavings will continue to support DepEd in providing basic and quality education services for our public school children. We understand that access to school supplies and hygiene kits can be difficult nowadays with the situation in Marawi and so it is our hope that these items would alleviate some of the needs in order for the students to learn and focus on their studies better. Who knows that our emerging leaders will come from these young Marawi students." said CitySavings President and CEO Catalino Abacan during the turnover.
In response, DepEd Assistant Secretary for Legislative Affairs and Partnerships and External Linkages Atty. Tonisito Umali said “We thank CitySavings for being a partner of DepEd since 2008 on various multi-intervention projects. This donation of 200 sets of school supplies and hygiene kits will surely be appreciated by our Marawi learners and will contribute to a semblance of normalcy in their learning environment. We look forward to working on more education related initiatives with CitySavings particularly on refurbishing learning facilities which were destroyed in the Marawi area as well as other multi-grade level schools in the country."
DepEd Director IV for External Partnerships Service Dr. Margarita Ballesteros also reiterated that “DepEd is grateful for the prompt response of CitySavings in support of the call to help our Muslim brothers and sisters in Marawi. The donation of goods and provision of school learning kits will surely help the students who are now in the evacuation areas. Thank you CitySavings for the love offering.”
The school supplies include notebooks, pad papers, ruler, sharpener, glue, scissors and crayons placed inside a plastic envelope while the hygiene kits include toothpaste, toothbrush, shampoo and soap.
To date, there are an estimated 6,289 displaced learners from 69 public schools in the Marawi area. DepEd has taken various efforts to tap private organizations and foundations to provide assistance to Marawi school children, teaching and non-teaching personnel in the form of school supplies, medicine kits, first aid kits, hygiene kits, bed mats, raincoats, slippers and halal certified food and beverages as well as materials for temporary learning spaces such as tents and tarpaulins.