Flood-hit Bulacan schools get help from Canada

Children in flood-hit public elementary schools here and in Hagonoy town received new school bags, notebooks and other school materials as part of a drive by the Canadian government and other donors to help in the cleanup and recovery of communities ravaged by widespread flooding and typhoons.

Canadian Ambassador to the Philippines Christopher Thornley and Elnora Bailen Avarrientos, executive director of the World Vision Development Foundation (WVDF), led the distribution of bags filled with notebooks, pencils, crayons and other school materials to 640 pupils at the San Jose Elementary School here on Monday.

Avarrientos said the gifts were part of the P8-million humanitarian fund assistance of the Canadian government to provinces in Cagayan Valley, the Cordillera and Central Luzon that were hit by recent calamities.

Through the WVDF, Bulacan towns submerged by floods in September were given P2 million worth of assistance for the cleanup and repair of schools, including the replenishment of school materials.

Leonilo Pascual, San Jose Elementary School principal, said some 2,500 residents in different villages here and in Hagonoy were tapped for a food-for-work program during the cleanup drive and rehabilitation operations for more than a week.

Mayor James de Jesus said the program eased the residents’ problems on where to get food after the floods subsided.

Thornley said the Canadian government is proud of the resilience shown by residents of Calumpit and Hagonoy to survive amid the floods.

He encouraged them to continue to have a positive outlook in life, especially during calamities. Carmela Reyes-Estrope, Inquirer Central Luzon