IN TIME for the opening of the school year, Mayor Venancio “Asyong” Macapagal of San Luis town is helping a school in his personal way through the donation of a school building.
Known for his simplicity and modesty who was born and grew up poor, the local chief executive of this agricultural town has fulfilled his promise of providing an additional classroom building out of his own pockets, for the benefit of schoolchildren.
When the young Asyong was growing up, his father Teodulo died early. The latter Macapagal was a carpenter who worked hard for the education of his children. He value education so much that he treated the same as his most important “pamana” to his children.
Recognizing this value for education, the donated two-storey school building was named after the older Macapagal perhaps to make it a standing appreciation of the Macapagals of today for the father of Mayor Asyong.
The donation is never simple. Aside from being a solid memory of Teodulo, it will also be a legacy of Mayor Asyong to the people of San Luis whose children who will use the edifice, will benefit from.
As a promise, the mayor has pledge to erect the school building when his term ends. While it is still a couple of years when the mayor’s term ends, the building was seen already standing and of use for the young generation in their education.
It is a known fact that public schools in the country are suffering from classroom shortages and the San Luis High School was never spared from that fact. For sure, the donated school building will be much helpful for the school and for the schoolchildren of the town.
We hope that others will emulate Mayor Asyong's value for education by doing the same.
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On Monday was the start of the school year and despite the tension in Mindanao and the attack of a gunman in a renowned hotel casino in Metro Manila, the opening of classes is said to be relatively peaceful.
The peace and order was maintained and we can say that police visibility was good. This may have been realized because of the heightened alert being implemented by the Philippine National Police that was made timely on the opening of the school year.
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As usual, we have seen several school service vehicles that are visibly overloaded. Some jeepneys, which carry schoolchildren, have school bags dangling on their windows and young students jam-packed inside the vehicles.
Law enforcement authorities should act on these overloaded vehicles as the safety and convenience of the young who are going to their schools are compromised.
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