BayanTrade joins Black Pencil Project in Project Aral roll out, adopts communities in Rizal

Makati City – Eighteen volunteers from BayanTrade Group of Companies participated the Black Pencil Project’s roll out of National Book Store Foundation’s Project Aral 2010 in two (2) communities in Tanay, Rizal on June 12, Independence Day. No less than BayanTrade President and Chief Executive Officer Dante Briones headed the outreach in Sta. Ines and Sto. Nino, home of some Dumagat Remontado (Returning Dumagats) in Rizal.

Dubbed as BTG Trek and Serve, the program benefited over six hundred elementary pupils of both barangays, providing each with a bag from BayanTrade. The BPO company also facilitated the transportation of Project Aral kits from National Book Store Foundation to the community, as well as food and snacks for the volunteers.

Children were extremely delighted with the unexpected visitors, beaming smiles and saying thank you’s to the volunteers.

“I think we should be the one to be thankful, in Manila we only see walls, buildings and cars. It has been a while since my daughter and I saw an albino carabao” said BayanTrade President and CEO Dante Briones to his employees. He also revealed he’s a product of public elementary school and the outreach reminded him of his childhood memories. “This is indeed a great opportunity to show my daughter that there’s life outside her school” Briones added, who brought his daughter with him during the outreach.

Program Director Mon Corpuz addressed the school and volunteers that Black Pencil Project’s role aside from inspiring the children to go to school despite of long kilometers of walk, their goal is to uplift the morale of public elementary school teachers who continue to embrace a noble but difficult vocation as well as bring experiential activities to its volunteers in the hopes that they get to appreciate simple things in life and the joy of giving.

Touched by the sincerity of the advocacy, Briones didn’t wait the program to end and have announced a firmer involvement of BayanTrade to the Black Pencil Project communities in Tanay. Rizal. “We want to make this effort more sustainable” affirmed Briones who vows to steer the corporate social responsiveness of BayanTrade more meaningful by adopting a communities like Sta. Ines and Sto. Nino. He promised to come back really soon.

Teachers meanwhile, were in tears learning the story behind the outreach and the Black Pencil Project. “We’ve seen you in Eat Bulaga and you’re programs are very much inspiring and uplifting especially for us teachers. We are lucky you’ve chosen our school and indeed very timely for the opening of classes on Tuesday” Mr. Valdez, school principal told Black Pencil Project.

Black Pencil Project also learned that the official first day of school year is also their enrollment day as some families are coming from kaingin farms which are kilometers away from the community and school. Families of Dumagats Remontado were present during the outreach.

In Sto. Nino, pupils patiently waited for the group to arrive before 2pm in the afternoon. “They were here as early as nine in the morning. They were anxious if you are still coming as the rain is about to fall but I said wait a little longer. Teacher Julia said to Black Pencil Project. Not even the rain could stop the team aboard a service jeepney from visiting the second community. Instead of the school grounds, the team proceeded with the outreach in the nearby covered court. A beeline of pupils started fill the stadium and sooner the excitement can be felt in the air. “Thank you, you didn’t disappoint the kids and their patience payed off “ said Teacher Julia, who later recognize the group who first visited the community few months back.

In March 2010, Mon Corpuz visited the community for ocular and was accompanied by Rizal-based photographers headed by Jon Aguirre. Aguirre fed the information to Black Pencil Project about the Dumagat community that’s very close to Metro Manila.

“When I first visited the community, I was in shock to learn a community comparable to a community of Babuyan Islands  - dirt road, no cellphone and terrestrial television signals and the irony of it that its less than 50 kilometers away from Manila.” Corpuz shared. The team had a hard time getting valuable information of enrollment data at the beginning because the teachers were not present so they had to rely on interviewing other source. During oculars, Black Pencil Project is very careful not to divulge upcoming programs to avoid expectations from the communities.

“We’re happy to know the community was included on the target areas of Black Pencil Project and National Book Store Foundation’s Project Aral Program” said Aguirre who were also present during the outreach together with his team.

Black Pencil Project co-founders, Mon Corpuz and Zer Cabatuan led the group during the outreach, answering questions to eager guests about the Black Pencil Project advocacy and programs.

While the group have safely conducting the outreach, a gunfight occurred in Barangay Laiban, leaving a member of the New People’s Army killed and a soldier wounded during the one-hour encounter between communist rebels and government troops in Tanay, Rizal.

“Black Pencil Project are doing such a noble cause. This is only the beginning of what we see as a good working relationship” said BayanTrade’s Marketing Manager Kay Facto.

The outreach ended with a celebratory dinner hosted by BayanTrade president and chief executive officer Dante Briones at Balawbalaw Restaurant in Angono, Rizal.