TPEF and TSP Sign MOA under Adopt-A-School Program in Mountain Province

A tripartite partnership of Torm Philippines Education Foundation, Torm Shipping Philippines and Department of Education Schools Division of Mountain Province was forged through a signed agreement on August 28 for the construction of a classroom in Paracelis, Mountain Province.

The Addang Elementary School-Ambatutong Extension is the ASP partner school of TSP and TPEF. Opened in June 2015 to provide education of children from nearby sitios of Ambatutong and Bila, it offers multi-grade classes for kinder to grade six. It has three makeshift classrooms made of light materials with woven split bamboo mats walls and galvanized iron roofs. Prior to its establishment, young students walk for almost two hours in uneven terrain to attend school located in Addang proper or Natonin, another municipality in Mountain Province. Now, it takes them just half an hour or less to reach the makeshift school.

The Addang ES- Ambatutong Extension

Under the MOA, the TSP will provide 1.3 million pesos to build a one-storey classroom in Addang Elementary School-Ambatutong Extension. The project in Ambatutong Extension School is the first ASP in Paracelis, Mountain Province.

Main signatories in the Memorandum of Agreement included Michael Rogado, President of Torm Shipping Philippines, Ma. Jessica Tolentino, Head of Torm Philippines Education Foundation and Sally Ullalim, Schools Division Superintendent of Mountain Province, with Irene Angway, Assistant Schools Division Superintendent, Jacinto Yassan, Paracelis District Supervisor, Amalia Sudkaran, Teacher in Charge of Ambatutong Extension School, Mildred Dapliyan, EPS II- Social Mobilization & Networking and Grace Panitew, ASP Coordinator, as witnesses.

“With the construction of the classroom, complete with armchairs, chalkboards and toilet, it is hoped that the number of students will increase, and they will be more encouraged to go to school,” Michael Rogado said during the signing of the MOA.

Paracelis is one of the poorest municipalities in Mountain Province, and the farthest from Schools Division Office in Bontoc, with 6-hours travel via Kalinga Province or 8 to 9 hours via Ifugao Province and Nueva Viscaya Province. From Manila, it takes at least 12 to 14 hours travel by bus via Tabuk, Kalinga.