JUST in time for school year 2017-2018, the construction of a three-story senior high-school (SHS) building at the Eastern Nueva Vizcaya National High School (ENVNHS) campus is now a reality. After one and a half years, the long wait is over.
As part of its Community Investment Program “We Care”, OceanaGold (Philippines) Inc. (OGPI) donated P43 million for the construction of the SHS building at the ENVNHS campus in Barangay Didipio, a town in support of the implementation of the K to 12 curriculum of the Department of Education (DepEd) in the mining village, home to the OGPI Didipio gold-copper project.
In addition, the 18-classroom edifice is expected to be installed with P7 million worth of advanced instructional gadgets and laboratory equipment appropriate for the senior-high curriculum. The symbolic hand-over of the last installment of its financial assistance was a replica check of the Bank of the Philippine Islands amounting to P2.36 million, turned over by We Care Education Steering Committee Chairman Edgar Rivera, Asset Protection Manager of OceanaGold-Didipio Operation.
Part of a P10-million financial assistance was likewise donated to the DepEd in Region 2 by the mining firm as additional support to the K to 12 curriculum implementation in 45 Nueva Vizcaya schools and 18 schools in Quirino for a total of 63 additional beneficiary schools.
“Previously, essential health care for elementary pupils, construction of daycare facilities and improvement of comfort rooms were the initial educational support programs we have given earlier to our host village and neighboring communities,” OGPI Senior Vice President for Communications and External Affairs Chito Gozar said.
A number of scholarship grants was also given to deserving students in Didipio and nearby communities, Gozar told BusinessMirror.
To set its objectives into action, multisector and interdisciplinary working committees were organized under a Central Steering Committee composed of General Manager David Way of Didipio Operations, Kasibu Mayor Alberto Bumolo Jr. and Didipio Barangay Chairman Alfredo Pugong Jr.
In his message delivered during the inauguration program that officially opened the educational infrastructure, Way recalled that in 2015, the We Care Program was launched with six pillars that included infrastructure, environment and agriculture; business development, employment and training; and health and education.
“It was a community-investment program that was aligned with the needs, values and priorities of our community. And, more important, it was a program that empowered the Didipio community to make decisions together with OceanaGold on how the social-investment program was going to be implemented,” Way said in his message.
The Aussie firm keeps partnership ties with the local communities and educational institutions in Nueva Vizcaya and Quirino province.
“We stand here today as witnesses to the greatness not far from our reach. The building that stands tall before us now is one of the realizations of that vision. Our gift to the students here today is not the 3-story building that stands before us, but the possibility of a quality education without compromising family togetherness. Quality education is the foundation of the students’ future. You are the hope of your nation. You will be the future leaders of the Philippines,” Way added. Way reported the recent accomplishment of the We Care Program.
“We recently had two ground-breaking ceremonies here in the barangay site, the Didipio Family Health Center and the Didipio Community Water Distribution System. These are basic services we will be providing to more than 3,000 residents of Didipio. These are milestones that some Didipians, in their lifetime, never thought would be possible. We are meeting society’s needs for minerals, metals and energy products in the most socially, economically and environmentally responsible manner. Structures are not our greatest legacies. Our greatest legacy will be the lives we have touched, your lives,” Way told his audience.
In his message, Nueva Vizcaya Vice Gov. Lambert Galima described OceanaGold as a lifesaver.
“Education receives the biggest budget from the national government. In the province of Nueva Vizcaya, we allocate 50 percent of the real-property tax to education,” Galima said.
The mining firm settled P67 million last year and another P33 million this year for total of P100-million real property tax to the province of Nueva Vizcaya.
Galima acknowledged that the mining firm almost doubled the income of the province from P700 million to P1.3 billion.
OceanaGold is the biggest taxpayer in Nueva Vizcaya, seconded by Didipio Community Development Corporation, a firm organized by original residents of the mining village that cater services to the Australian firm.
“You have the best campus consisting of 4.1 hectares, the biggest high-school campus in the province of Nueva Vizcaya with a 3-story and 18-classroom building. A dream come true for Didipio students now realized and made possible by OceanaGold. We hope the mining firm will continue to help,” the vice governor said in gratitude.
Pugong, likewise, expressed gratitude to community folks and OceanaGold for “its genuine care for the community”.
Image credits: Leonardo Perante II