By Russtum G. Pelima ,MA Ed

MAASIM, Sarangani (July 15, 2010) – For tribal chieftain Pepito Lanon, having a nearby school where he could send his kids everyday is a blessing after long years of waiting.

Yet, the school built by Conal Holdings Corporation in their nearby village, Langaran, from their own, Tahakayo, is still five kilometers away along tapered roads of Amsipit hills.

Yesterday (July 14), the Department of Education in Sarangani headed by Schools Division Superintendent Deborah Adrales, Quality Education for Sarangani Today (QUEST), Conal Holdings, with Mahintana Foundation and Alcantara Foundation, opened two primary schools in Langaran and Lebe of barangay Amsipit.

Langaran is a Blaan village 18 kilometers away from the main road to Maasim. The school site, donated by Eyog Malo, is 3,000 feet above sea level and second to Maasim’s highest plateau, Datal Basak. Lebe is eight kilometers lower than Langaran.

Adrales told parents the importance of education especially for the future of their children. She said the Department of Education has been fielding more number of teachers for the remote barangays to complement the province’s campaign for education.

In partnership with QUEST, 250 more teachers under the Provincial School Board were sent to farthest schools by the DepEd.

QUEST is an education program of Sarangani under the Governor’s Office.

In his inaugural speech last month, Governor Migs Dominguez reiterated education as his priority program of governance.

“No child will be left behind,” Governor Dominguez said.

“We started planning to build a school here in October last year after seeing a number of children,” Fely Constantino, Conal Holdings’ community development officer, said.

Conal funded the P720,000 two-classroom building here and helped the community to open a primary school in Lebe by rehabilitating an old building of the Upland Development Program.

Langaran has 124 Grade I pupils now with two sections and 60 pupils in Grade I in Lebe. Village children from Lamsaging can now walk three kilometers to Langaran Primary School instead of ten kilometers to Kyumad Elementary School.

Langaran and Lebe primary schools are among the ten schools assisted and built by Conal Holdings in the highlands of Maasim as part of its corporate social responsibility.

“Not all of these communities are covered by our agro-forestry project as carbon sink areas for our 200-megawatt power producing plant in Kamanga,” Ed Cejar, project assurance head, said. “We are just happy that we extend some help for the community.”

Conal provides school supplies, technical and vocational trainings, medical and dental missions to schools, scholarship grants, and classroom buildings for its educational program.

As part of its program for health and sanitation, the company donated a P1.2-M water system to barangay Tinoto which the community longed for 70 years.

For the three QUEST volunteer teachers, teaching the village kids in Langaran and Lebe is a vocation. When others were hired at the schools in the lowland, theirs is a call.

Conal officials said a staff house will be built aside from the school building at the school ground for the teachers. (SARANGANI INFORMATION OFFICE)

MAASIM, Sarangani (July 15, 2010) – Ed Cejar of Conal Holdings Corporation leads the distribution of school supplies during the opening of Langaran Primary School Wednesday, July 14. (Cocoy Sexcion/SARANGANI INFORMATION OFFICE)

MAASIM, Sarangani (July 15, 2010) – Edmund Gualm (3rd, right), Department of Education’s Maasim district representative, introduces to pupils and parents their first teachers – Marnalyn Amora (2nd, right) and Alfredo Jutar (extreme right). (Cocoy Sexcion/SARANGANI INFORMATION OFFICE)

ALABEL, Sarangani (July 5, 2010) – Governor Migs Dominguez (middle) meets Monday morning, July 5, members of the 7th Sangguniang Panlalawigan, (from left) Board Members Eleanor Saguiguit, Association of Barangay Captains federation president Arturo Desaville, Virgilio Tobias, Hermie Galzote, Alexander Bryan Reganit, Dr. Elmer Peralta, and Dr. Cornelio Martinez, to discuss priority programs of the province such as education, health, investment and agriculture. (Cocoy Sexcion/SARANGANI INFORMATION OFFICE)