The happiest teachers in the Philippines today are the public school teachers of Mabalacat City--all 1,193 of them--because they just received free Lenovo laptops from the city to help enhance their teaching effectiveness. This unprecedented, historic and frankly, quite unbelievable move was inspired by the unorthodox leadership of Mayor Cris Garbo, whose Christian values animate his political decisions and who seriously practices what he preaches.
The awarding of the netbooks was witnessed by Dr. Irelyn Paras Tamayo, DepEd Mabalacat Division Superintendent, who is my former student at HAU (summa cum laude!), Vice Mayor Christian Halili, and members of the city's Local School Board which is co-chaired by Mayor Garbo and Dr. Tamayo.
The project actually started way back in the previous administration when Dr. Tamayo requested the laptops for the teachers, the budget coming from the Special Education Fund (a trust fund from the city's real property tax collections), but it was the new mayor who really speeded up the whole process. Credit should also go to the Local School Board members, including Councilor Rox Pena who also heads the City Council's education committee, and all the hard-working members of Mayor Garbo's team--indeed so many people of goodwill now working together for Mabalacat City. My city is shining through!
Photos by: Jayson Layson and Elijah Manlapaz, Mabt-CIO (courtesy of Mabalacat City News)
Source: Robby Tantingco
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