on Fri, 10/21/2016

Senator Paolo Benigno “Bam” Aquino and Rep. Alfredo Benitez (Neg. Occ., 3rd District) visited Barangay Alegria in Murcia, Negros Occidental yesterday for a dialog at the Alegria Elementary School to get a firsthand brief of the state of the public elementary and high schools in the area, and to bring government closer to the people, a press release from Benitez’s office said.

Rotaract officer Dr. Cris Sorongon (3rd from left) turns over a set of books for the Alegria National High School received by principal Lelanie Rivera (5th from left). Joining the turn-over are Cong. Albee Benitez, Alegria ES principal Norberto Vallente, Senator Bam Aquino, DepED NIR Director Gilbert Sadsad and DPWH DE Jaime Javellana.

Aquino, who chairs the Senate Committee on Education, spoke on priority programs for educational development, among them free tuition at state universities and colleges, “trabaho centers” for senior high school all over the country, strengthening the Alternative Learning System, more benefits for teachers, and to address the dire need for more school buildings.

Benitez, who authored the Cyber-Education bill in the 16th Congress, stressed on his priority attention to bring the e-classroom or “classroom of the future” to as many public schools not only in his district but beyond, to enable more young people better access to opportunities in the highly competitive global workplace, the press release said.

Both legislators engaged participants in a lively exchange of situationers and current pressing concerns in teaching and learning.

The meeting was attended by Murcia Vice Mayor Gerardo Rojas, Alegria Barangay Captain Teresita Macaron, Department of Education Negros regional director Gilbert Sadsad, assistant schools division superintendent Gladys Amylane Sales, DPWH district engineer Jaime Javellana, and principals Norberto Vallente of Alegria ES, Lelanie Rivera - Alegria NHS, and Joel Samodio – Murcia NHS.

Also present were Janet Espinosa, academic affairs vice-president of the Carlos Hilado Memorial State College, who presented a tie-up program with the Murcia secondary schools and Rotaract official, Dr. Cris Sorongon, who turned over a set of books as donation to the Alegria NHS, the press release said.

Also in attendance were some Murcia councilors, representatives of pupil and student governments, parents, teachers, and other barangay leaders, the press release added.*

Dr. Cris Sorongon of Rotaract (3rd from left) turns over books for the Alegria National High School to principal Lelanie Rivera, witnessed by Rep. Albee Benitez, Alegria ES principal Norberto Vallente, Senator Bam Aquino, DepEd NIR director Gilbert Sadsad, and Jaime Javellana of the DPWH*