ANVIL OFFICIATES TACLOBAN SCHOOL TURNOVER

Anvil Business Club President Mr. Reginald Yu  lead an intrepid seven-man delegation from the Anvil Business Club (Association of Young Filipino-Chinese Entrepreneurs) in official turnover ceremonies of a new school building to the students and faculty members of the Salvacion Elementary School in Tacloban, Leyte. Missing a key workday after a long weekend, and braving incessant rains, heavy flooding – not to mention the horrendously notorious Metro Manila traffic jam that Tuesday morning (To even make it to the NAIA Terminal 3 by a breadth of a second before the plane doors closed was, by every measure, a miraculous Act of Divine Intervention... Thank God for on-line check-in!), the team was determined to make good on our promise to the academy's students and officials of personally gracing the inauguration of its newly-renovated school's computer lab building which the Club donated – come hell or high water (well, I guess it was more of the latter).

Much to our pleasant surprise, the school – led by its effervescent principal, Ms. Mary Ann Nalda – left no stone unturned in extending its grandest welcome to the Anvil delegates as hundreds of cheering students – all 461 of them – lined up in two parallel rows with their teachers to warmly receive us with songs and dances upon our arrival. After a hearty buffet lunch, we were treated to a specially-prepared program that made our eyes well up with tears and our hearts swell with pride; because despite the short and modest ceremonies done under a makeshift stage, it was an affair rendered with much heartfelt love and genuine appreciation. No less than Tacloban City's much-beloved Vice-Mayor (and our personal friend) Hon. Jerry T. Yaokasin and DepEd Region VIII's Assistant Superintendent Dr. Carmela R. Tamayo made the event more meaningful with their esteemed presence. 

Together with the entire school community, we officiated the unveiling of a permanent marker, turned over the key to the classroom, administered the ribbon-cutting ceremonies, and formally signed a Deed of Donation on behalf of the Club. When we visited Tacloban on January 22 of this year – more than 2 months since the tragedy struck – our hearts broke when we saw the City as if the typhoon only happened yesterday. 

We still saw thousands of survivors continuing to endure unimaginable suffering: hunger, thirst, makeshift shelters, little if any medical care, and a desperate, weeks-long wait for aid to arrive. And while the typhoon victims struggled to survive for the first weeks; we in the Anvil Business Club also struggled to come to terms with this disaster. Our organization decided to make a case for the future of our nation: And that is our youth.Because if there is one thing that we need to preserve in order to be progressive, it is education. 
 
Knowledge is power, and power fuels progress. We, in Anvil recognize this, and we have invested our time, talent and treasure in rebuilding hope through education. One school building at a time… beginning with Salvacion Elementary School. Indeed, just as there was new-found enthusiasm for life that comes from having just escaped death, we, in Anvil, now desire to instill a new-found hope that will come from having seen great despair. And judging by the glistening smiles of the students of Salvacion Elementary School, our efforts were not in vain.