Aboitiz firm’s CSR has electrifying impact on Cotabato City senior high students

COTABATO CITY -- Students of a state-run
high school in Cotabato City have shown electrifying interests in taking up
electrical engineering or related courses in college.

Thanks to the Aboitiz-owned Cotabato Light and Power
Company (Cotabato Light) for the first ever electrical laboratory (e.Lab) for
Canizares National High School of Arts and Trade (CNHSAT) in Barangay Rosary
Heights 10, Cotabato City.

It has opened a door of opportunities to about 140
senior high students.

Among them was Eron Abohasim, 19 and Grade 12
student of CNHSAT, who now focuses his education to electrical engineering,
hoping one day he will become an electrical engineer.

It’s a dream now and I am confident it will come,
Abohasim said after the Cotabato Light officially turned over the electrical
laboratory to CNHSAT officials.

Seeing the wonders of how electricity works,
interests developed in me to become electrical engineer or related courses, he
said.

But Abohasim has problem. His family is not capable of sending him to
college due to poverty and the high cost of education.

His option? Seek for scholarship to realize his
dream of becoming a Muslim electrical engineer from his clan.

Another student,
also a senior high, 20-year-old Adzmin M. Masukat, also eyes electrical
engineering course. Why not, he said in an interview. Others have done it, I see no reason why I
can’t, the very optimist Masukat said in Filipino.

If Masukat has
to pursue his dream, it would not be a walk in the park as his father had
died and only his mother is sending him to school. Maybe I could only finish
high school, after that I don’t know, but I will strive to reach that dream, he
said, adding that he remained determined to pursue his dream at any cost
because if there’s a will, there’s a way.

Kung gusto may
paraan, pag ayaw may dahilan, he added in jest. Masukat is a working student.

Through the
years, Cotabato Light has been very supportive in providing assistance to
schools within its franchise as its social corporate responsibility of giving
back to its clients, Anna Lea Lee Nataño of Cotabato Light’s Human Resources
and Reputation Enhancement Department head, said.

Nataño said
Cotabato Light’s CSR include various assistance extended in education like
refurbishing school classroom buildings, science and computer laboratory,
computer donation and educational assistance to performing students in a clear
manifestation of its commitment to improve the quality of education in its
franchise area.

We still have
more in mind, she added.

The e.Lab, a
project in support to Department of Education (DepEd) K to 12 curriculum, is
for learners who will be taking up Electrical Installation and Maintenance
(EIM) Course.

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will then issue National Certification (NC) 2 or Certificate of Competency
(COC) to the course passers which can be used as documentation in applying for
gainful employment after they finish Senior High.

Using new
electrical laboratory facility with 10 sets of training tables and assessment facility,
50 armchairs, information wall and white boards with an estimated cost of about
P500,000, the laboratory is creating future electrical experts, Nataño said.

This is
Cotabato Light’s contribution to CNHSAT because we believed in the capability and
competence of its teachers and students, she added.

We will not
fail you, we will take care and make this e.Lab an instrument to produce
electrical experts, Malumpig Balawag, CNHSAT principal, told power firm
officials after receiving the turn-over key.

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Schools Division superintendent Dr. Concepcion Ferrer–Balawag, Al Hadja, lauded
Aboitiz firm for giving importance to education as one of the keys to eradicate
poverty.

Nataño said
Cotabato Light will continue to hold on to its commitment and thrust as a
dependable electric provider in the area and partner in progress that will
create greater and meaningful impact to the community.

CNHSAT senior high
school program offers the Technical-Vocational-Livelihood (TVL) track with
Bread and Pastries, ICT and Electrical Installation and Maintenance as areas of
specialization, the Department of Education said.

Also present during
simple turn over rites were Curriculim Implementation Division Officer Evelyn
Balanag Tacderan, Village chief Kombol G. Mamalangkay, Schaminco Contractor headed
by Engr. Hamin L. Amino and Engr. Suharto A. Bationg, PTA president Kagawad
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