Army distributes school supplies to Surigao children

From the Philippine Information Agency (Jul 18): Army distributes school supplies to Surigao children

The government troops based in Surigao del Norte completed the school supplies distribution to 3,162 school children, this week.

The Philippine Army's program dubbed as "Project Shoebox" was able to benefit 32,739 children from conflict-affected areas in Northern Mindanao and Caraga. The project had been going for many years now.

"These little things are our way of saying, keep our children in schools. The future of our children is in school and at home. We all know that children are prone to recruitment of the New People's Army that trains them to become combatants. This process violates the rights of the children to be protected from mental, psychological, emotional and physical abusea," said 1st Lt Ryan Layug, 30IB Civil Military Operations (CMO) officer.

The school kits were categorized into two; the Kinder to Grade 3 (4 writing notebooks, 4 pencils, 2 erasers and 2 sharpeners), and Grade 4-Grade 6 (4 composition notebooks and 4 ballpens).

"This is the first time we have seen a program like this, as a teacher we are most grateful to our soldiers for giving our students inspiration to study and stay in school, first they have helped us in Brigada Eskwela and now the Project Shoebox. Sirs, we salute your service and contribution to our school," a teary eyed teacher of Alipao Elementary School said during the distribution. Alipao Elementary School is the biggest recipient in Surigao del Norte with 480 beneficiaries.

The distribution of Project Shoebox from July 7-19 was also participated by the local chief executives of Gigaquit, Sison and Malimono through the initiatives of 30th Infantry Battalion (30IB) Company Commanders and Barangay Officials.

"We have recommended schools in Surigao del Norte through our soldiers conducting Peace and Development Outreach Program (PDOP), 16 schools were approved, hopefully this will become a bigger event next year with more donors here in Surigao. We most specially thank the National Bookstore Foundation through their Project Aral in supporting this program," said 30IB commander Lt Col Rico Amaro.

http://news.pia.gov.ph/article/view/2041468889140/army-distributes-school-supplies-to-surigao-children