GMA Network’s socio-civic arm, GMA Kapuso Foundation Inc. (GMAKF) was recently awarded a grant of P800,000 from the New Zealand Embassy, under the High Embassy Fund-Manila.
Allocated for GMAKF’s Kapuso School Development program, the grant will help build two classrooms in Calassitan Elementary School in Santo Niño, Cagayan. This support will benefit the Agta/Aguy Indigeneous People who inhabit this remote town. Calassitan Elementary School and other schools sustained heavy damage caused by typhoon Ulysses last year, which prompted GMA Kapuso Foundation to build new classrooms to provide a safe environment to public elementary students and teachers in the area.
“Thirty percent of the school’s population are members of the Agta tribe and indigenous people are a priority beneficiary group of GMA Kapuso Foundation,” shared Rikki Escudero-Catibog, GMAKF executive vice president and chief operating officer.
The New Zealand Embassy supported GMA Kapuso Foundation’s Kapuso School Development because of the Agta/Aguy Indigeneous People who inhabit this remote town and who will use the new classrooms.
New Zealand Ambassador Peter Kell said, “The New Zealand Government advocates for the recognition and inclusion of indigenous knowledge and economic participation. Through the New Zealand High Embassy Fund, we are supporting small scale, short-term community projects that contribute to wider community well-being. This will help to address issues of social exclusion, poverty and inequity. We are proud to support GMA Kapuso Foundation in its Calassitan Elementary School Development project which aims to provide a healthy educational environment to indigenous students.”
The groundbreaking ceremony of Calassitan Elementary School was held on April 28, 2021 attended Rikki Escudero-Catibog and its multisectoral partners: Lt. Gen. Arnulfo Marcelo Burgos Jr. AFP, Mayor Atty. Vicente G, Pagurayan, and Dr. Lauro Daquioag, public school district supervisor.
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