Power Wheels Magazine A Notch Above
March 29, 2022 marked the culmination of a year-long construction project undertaken by Philippine Allied Enterprises Corporation (PAEC), the exclusive Philippine distributor of Bridgestone and Firestone tires in the country, when they turned over and inaugurated the new single-story 3-classroom building in the Talogtog Elementary School (TES) in Mangaldan, Pangasinan.
The construction and donation of the classroom building was part of PAEC/Bridgestone Philippines’ Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities in cooperation with the Department of Education (DepEd), Friends of Hope, Inc. and the Masonic brethren of the Alfonso Lee Sin Memorial Lodge 158, where Gilbert Sanchez, the proprietor of GNS Auto, the largest Bridgestone tire dealer in Pangasinan, is closely affiliated with.
Festive Atmosphere
The heat of that hot Tuesday afternoon was overshadowed by the festive atmosphere around the school, especially with the lively music provided by the TES School Band. At around 3:00 PM, the masters of ceremonies, Lemuel Bautista and Myla Sevillena, started the program. After the various opening hymns, Rev. Fr. Jose Laforteza gave the invocation to bless the afternoon’s activities.
Emcees Lemuel Bautista and Myla Sevillena did a great job with the progression of the afternoon’s activities.
Rev. Fr. Jose Laforteza gave the invocation after the requisite playing of various hymns.
The welcome address was delivered by Reynaldo Javier, the president of the TES Teachers’ Club, and was followed by the opening remarks of Catherin Manuel, the vice president of the Federated Parents Teachers Association (PTA). Both speeches were filled with gratitude for the blessings that the school had received from the donors.
Reynaldo Javier, the President of the TES Teachers’ Club welcomed everyone to the event.
Catherin Manuel, the VP of the Federated PTA thanked the donors for their support of education.
Meaningful Turnover Activities
The donors and the audience were asked to move to the newly-built 1-story 3-classroom building for the turnover activities that included the ceremonial ribbon cutting, the exchange of the Philippine flag with the donor, the unveiling of the classroom markers and the donor’s wall, and the signing of the Deed of Acceptance between the donors and the school administration.
DepEd PSDS Dr. Minerva Serafica and PAEC/Bridgestone Philippines Marketing Manager Allan Santos led the ribbon cutting ceremonies.
Bridgestone Philippines Marketing Specialist Glaiza Tabangay and Friends of Hope Programs Associate Geraldine Escano cut the ribbon for the first classroom…
… while Helen Aquino, representing Municipal Mayor Mary Marilyn De Guzman Lambino, snipped the ribbon of the second classroom…
… and Senior Warden Paul Co, Jr. of the Alfonso Lee Sin Memorial Lodge 158 and Shawie Dizon, Marketing Manager of Power Wheels Magazine, cut the ribbon of the third.
Dr. Serafica and TES teachers witnessed the exchange of flags between their school and the Friends of Hope, Inc.
Bridgestone Philippines’ Allan Santos and Friends of Hope, Inc.’s Geraldine Escano unveiled the middle classroom’s marker.
Senior Warden Paul Co, Jr. and Bridgestone Dagupan/GNS Auto proprietor Gilbert Sanchez unveiled the marker of the right classroom…
… while Bridgestone associates Jason Peralta, Raymond Villaraza, William Doños and Glaiza Tabangay unveiled the third marker.
Geraldine Escano and Allan Santos, representing the donors, signed the Deed of Acceptance with Minerva Serafica and Lemuel Bautista, who signed in behalf of the school.
While Rev. Fr. Laforteza was blessing the new building, the parents of the students who will be using the new classrooms were impressed with its first-class construction, which was also designed to generate employment for local construction workers, carpenters and craftsmen. The parents were also happy that each classroom had an individual toilet for the student’s use.
Glaiza Tabangay, Allan Santos, Geraldine Escano, and Paul Co., Jr. pulled the gigantic curtain to unveil the donor’s wall…
… and posed after the reveal…
… before they were joined by the Talogtog Elementary School teachers and staff…
… and the brethren of the Alfonso Lee Sin Memorial Lodge 158.
Rev. Fr. Laforteza blessed each classroom thoroughly…
… and religiously prayed for good education and morals to come from these classrooms…
… while parents and teachers marveled at the new classrooms.
Allan Santos, Dr. Minerva Serafica, and Geraldine Escano posed with Rev. Fr. Jose Laforteza after the classrooms’ blessing.
Hope for the Future
After the turnover ceremonies and photo opportunities, the donors and benefactors were each asked to plant their Trees of Hope to signify their involvement in the development of the TES students as the hope for the future of Mangaldan and Pangasinan. In his message, Talogtog Barangay Kagawad Eduardo Caballero, representing Barangay Captain Macario Caballero, thanked Bridgestone Philippines, friends of Hope, Inc. and other donors for helping improve the elementary education of the children of their constituents.
Donors and LGU representatives planted their repective Tree of Hope.
Allan Santos and Glaiza Tabangay planted the tree sapling for PAEC/Bridgestone Philippines.
Talogtog Barangay Kagawad Eduardo Caballero thanked the donors for planting trees and planting hope for their barangay’s elementary school students.
Public School District Supervisor Dr. Minerva Serafica recalled how she told the teachers and staff of TES that they are blessed for being chosen for the classroom donation. Representing the Mayor’s Office, Helen Aquino expressed Municipal Mayor Mary Marilyn De Guzman Lambino’s heartfelt gratitude to Bridgestone Philippines and the donors for choosing to help improve the facilities of their public elementary school.
DepEd PSDS Dr. Minerva Serafica reiterated the multiple blessings that Talogtog has received.
Helen Aquino conveyed Mayor Lambino’s gratitude to the donors.
More Blessings in Store
The female teachers of the school surprised everyone, including their students, when they presented a very hip dance number that one audience member commented was “worthy of being posted on Instagram or Tiktok”. Friends of Hope Programs Associate Geraldine Escano expressed her gratitude to Bridgestone Philippines for their partnership in this endeavor while Senior Warden Paul Co, Jr. announced that his brethren in the Alfonso Lee Sin Memorial Lodge 158 will donate more than P200,000 worth of school needs and supplies as their commitment to TES.
TES teachers prepared a surprise upbeat dance number as an intermission.
Friends of Hope, Inc. Programs Associate Geraldine Escano expressed her gratitude to Bridgestone Philippines for the partnership and to TES for the trust.
Senior Warden Paul Co, Jr. committed to an additional P200,000 in donations from his brethren at the Alfonso Lee Sin Memorial Lodge 158.
In an inspired analogy, PAEC/Bridgestone Philippines Marketing Manager Allan Santos described elementary education as “the ‘tires’ that enable the vehicle we call ‘society’ to move forward”. He said that any vehicle will not move without tires and added that while Bridgestone is famous around the world for quality tires, they also believe in the importance of quality education, hence their commitment to helping improve the classrooms for the TES students.
PAEC/Bridgestone Philippines Marketing Manager Allan Santos likened elementary education to “tires” that enables the vehicle called “Society” to move forward.
Allan Santos and Raymond Villaraza accepted the Plaque of Appreciation in behlf of PAEC/Bridgestone Philippines.
Geraldine Escano accepted the Plaque of Appreciation in behalf of Friends of Hope, Inc.
Senior Warden Paul Co., Jr. accepted the Plaque of Appreciation in behalf of the Alfonso Lee Sin Memorial Lodge 158.
TES surprised Allan Santos with a Plaque of Appreciation for him as well as one each for PAEC Marketing VP Leslie Tagle-Dinglasan and PAEC President Marc Tagle.
After the ceremonial awarding of the Plaques of Appreciation to the donors and benefactors, including individual plaques for Santos, PAEC VP for Marketing Leslie Tagle-Dinglasan and PAEC President Marc Tagle, everybody gamely posed for group photos, which was followed by genuine camaraderie while partaking of the refreshments prepared by the TES teachers and staff.
Talogtog Elementary School teachers and staff posed with the donors.
Of course, everyone had to be in the picture for posterity.
Editor’s Note: Inspired by the donations made by PAEC/Bridgestone Philippines, Friends of Hope, Inc. and the Masons of Alfonso Lee Sin Memorial Lodge 158, Power Wheels Magazine made a small donation of several books and magazines for the library of Talogtog Elementary School as well as a couple of folding beds and some medicine for the school clinic. We want to thank Ford Group Philippines for lending us a Ford Ranger pickup truck (equipped with Bridgestone Dueler H/T tires) that we drove to transport our meager donation from our base in Quezon City to Pangasinan. We hope that through this story, we can inspire you, our dear readers, to extend any help you can provide to further improve the quality of elementary education in public schools.
Power Wheels Magazine Marketing Manager Shawie Dizon (2nd from left) hands over our meager donation to TES officials and teachers.
To make unloading our donations easier, we backed the Ford Ranger pickup truck near the entrance of the school clinic and library.
We cannot resist taking a photo of the Ford Ranger with the new single-story 3-classroom building. Getting those happy children and parents in the photo was a bonus.
