Bacolod—The local government of Bacolod City has distributed a total of 68,000 school bags containing school supplies to Grades 1 to 6 pupils in 46 public elementary schools here.
For the seven public elementary schools in this city, a total of 11,560 pupils from Grades 1 to 6 benefited, the Bacolod City Information Office said.
Bacolod City Mayor Evelio Leonardia and other local city officials, including the new Sangguniang Kabataan Federation president Ayesha Joy Villaflor, led the distribution of these bags.
Recipients to date include the Jose R. Torres Elementary School in Brgy. Singcang-Airport with 2,719 bags; Rizal Elementary School (2,231); Education and Training Center School (ETCS) 1 (1,158 bags); ETCS 2 (1,621 bags); ETCS 3 (1,616 bags); C. L. Montelibano Elementary School in Brgy. Villamonte (1,622 bags); and Alfredo M. Montelibano Sr. Elementary School (593 bags).
Leonardia, Bacolod Rep. Greg Gasatay, Councilors Caesar Distrito and Bartolome Orola also led the distribution of 2,923 school bags to Banago Elementary School 1 and 2 pupils on June 29.
On Monday afternoon, Leonardia and Councilors Cindy Rojas, Caesar Distrito, Em Ang, and Renecito Novero led the distribution of 3,415 school bags to Bata Elementary School 1 and 2 pupils.
“We are happy to see the enthusiasm of the pupils. I take it to mean that they are interested in their school work,” Leonardia said.
Adriana April Asiain, Grade 4 pupil of Education and Training Center School, happily expressed her gratitude for the people who took notice of their needs.
Normy Canja, principal of Jose R. Torres Elementary School, said: “I am truly thankful to Mayor Bing for giving our students the school supplies because we can really see the improvements in our school and we see now where our taxes go.”
Earlier, Mayor Leonardia said Bacolod is “the next big thing” after the city was awarded as the “Most Business-Friendly City” during the Search for the Philippine Model Cities and Municipalities 2018.
Leonardia cited the influx of major developers that has spurred Bacolod’s rapid growth.
“An added incentive and inspiration is that we were given a special title as the ‘Most Business-Friendly City,’” he said.
“Now it can be told that ‘Bacolod is the next big thing,” Leonardia added.
Also, the Bureau of Fire Protection-Bacolod got a brand new P17.5-million Rosenbauer fire truck from BFP national headquarters.
Leonardia’s facilitation was vital to the request for the new Austrian-made Man-Rosenbauer model fire truck with a water capacity of up to 4,000 liters and the ability to reach up to the sixth floor of a building.
BFP City Fire Marshal Chief Inspector Publio Ploteña presented to Leonardia the new fire truck at the Bacolod City Government Center grounds while his personnel demonstrated its fire-fighting capabilities.
Ploteña thanked BFP chief Director Leonard Bañago for the project.
Leonardia also thanked the BFP national headquarters for the new fire truck, which he said is a substantial help in the fire-fighting capabilities of the city.
“This is also a boost to the thrust of the city on being business-friendly,” Leonardia said.
Ploteña said the new fire truck is a big help to Bacolod, especially at this time when plenty of structures and buildings are being constructed in every corner of the city.
To date, BFP-Bacolod now has 12 fire trucks, with five of them are due for repair.
The Bacolod Chamber Volunteer Fire Brigade has nine fire trucks, while the Amity Volunteer Fire Brigade has five fire trucks— or a total of 26 fire trucks in Bacolod City.