Department of Social Welfare and Development Sec. Corazon ‘Dinky’ Juliano-Soliman poses with grade VI pupil Jethro Maraya, a Pantawid Pamilya beneficiary, as she pledged support for the construction of Bislig Elementary School fence and repair of remaining rooms.

The pupil gave his Typhoon Yolanda testimonial in front of Sec. Dinky, World Bank Group (WBG) President, Jim Yong Kim, and The Netherlands Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation, Elisabeth Ploumen and party, during their visit in the Kalahi CIDDS- National Community-Driven Development Program (NCDDP) built school in Brgy. Bislig, Tanauan Leyte on June 14, 2014.

After the boy’s talk, WBG Pres. Kim encouraged the students to study very hard because their future can be anything they want it to be. He even challenged the kids that maybe some of them can be the next World Bank president like him who came from a poor country when he was just a young student.

Brgy. Bislig is a coastal and last barangay in the municipality of Tanauan which was badly hit by TS Yolanda. From the total number of 725 households in the said barangay, 653 have totally damaged houses. The school has five classrooms which were totally destroyed while others need general repair.

The construction of one storey one (1) and two (2) classroom-school buildings in the said school which has a total cost of 3, 382,683.52, is a project of DSWD Kalahi-CIDSS NCDDP thru the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction (JFPR). The Kalahi-CIDSS NCDDP project will address the problem of insufficiency of school facilities and the need for quality education to students.

The construction started on the second week of June 2014 and was expedited thru community initiative and involvement of the community folks of Brgy. Bislig using the Community-Driven Development (CDD) approach. The project is expected to be completed this August. Some 135 units of armchair and 3 sets of teacher’s table and chair will likewise be provided to the said school.