19 August 2004 – The Filipinos in Brunei Darussalam are donating four classrooms to schools in the Philippines in response to the Philippine government’s “Classroom Galing sa Mamamayang Pilipino Abroad” or CGMA Program, which aims to provide more classrooms in both elementary and high school levels to meet the demand of a growing student population back home.

One of the classrooms is being donated by no less than the officers and staff of the Philippine Embassy in Brunei Darussalam, from their personal contributions and proceeds of their Christmas caroling last year.  The classroom will benefit the children of the Sabah deportees, whose families opted to make Tawi-Tawi their new home.

Philippine Ambassador to Brunei Virginia H. Benavidez said that the Philippine Embassy personnel chose to build their classroom in the Nalil Elementary School in Bongao, Tawi-Tawi, as a concrete manifestation of their commitment to do their part in contributing to the human resources development program especially for our Muslim brothers and sisters in Mindanao.

The second classroom is a donation from the Filipino employees of the ISS Tomas Cowan Sdn. Bhd., a big service firm located in Brunei.  They have chosen the Trece Martires City Elementary School in Cavite as the beneficiary.

Contributions for two more classrooms will be completed soon.  One will come from the Filipino Christian Group in Brunei composed of pastors and members of various Christian congregations, while the other classroom will be funded out of the proceeds of the Rotarian fun run, which is a project of the Rotary Club of Brunei held on 15 August 2004.

Beneficiaries for both classrooms will be subsequently identified.  Other sectors of the Filipino community such as golfers and accountants groups have likewise signified their interest to contribute to the CGMA program.

“The Philippine Embassy and the Filipino community in Brunei will continue to support President Arroyo’s CGMA project and endeavor to come up with additional classrooms as an ongoing commitment to attain the President’s 10-Point Agenda specifically in the construction and provision of new classrooms for students from marginalized families,” Ambassador Benavidez said.  END.