Barangay Lubayat Elementary School, Real, Quezon

 
Tess was already awake even before the alarm I set on my cell phone which is 5:00 AM. I also set another alarm on my watch at 5:30AM, just in case I overslept and miss the first alarm. We are still suffering from jet lag due to the time difference between Virginia and Manila which is 13 hours at this time of the year.
 
I have a schedule to meet with Martin at 7:00 AM in Valle Verde 5 in Pasig City,  then to meet with CFO staff in Real, Quezon to inspect the ongoing on construction of 2 classrooms donated by Jonathan Gaw from NY and his father, Martin Gaw, in memory of Martin ‘s brother, George Gaw. To accompany us in this inspection is the auditor from the Commission on Audit to make sure that the construction is done according to the agreement with CFO and the contractor, before allowing CFO to make a partial payment to the contractor, Engr. Myles.
 
I left our house in Hillsborough, Alabang around 5:30AM, hoping to get some breakfast along the way. The McDonald and Jollibee on C-5 were still closed before 6:00 AM but the Chow King at Tiendesitas in Pasig was already waiting for me. I ended up with a bowl of King Congee, a bowl of porridge with salted eggs, a piece of meat, etc., and a cup of coffee, for less tahn $2.00. Savoring my salty breakfast and reading the bad news in the Manila Bulletin, I left at 6:45 AM to meet with Martin, about 5 minutes away.
 
Martin and Pablito are supposed to meet with CFO in Real, Quezon, at the crossing of the National Rd and the local road leading to Barangay Lubayat. The last time Martin visited Lubayat to do the site inspection, Martin used his brand new Toyota and the road was so bad that the chassis of his car kept bumping on the road. This time we transfered to the CFO van which has a higher clearance but still bumps the road in some spots.
 
The local resident in the rest stop where we waited for CFO told us that Barangay Lubayat is just a ‘short’ 9 kilometers away, maybe about 30 minutes drive only. After the CFO arrived and had snack of soda and pastry (actually local bread with some fillings) from the corner store, we all rode on the van and started our ‘trek’ to Brgy. Lubayat.
 
After a short 100 feet of concrete pavement, the road turned into 10-kilometers of mixed surface; of dirt road, dirt and gravel road, some boulder road, some road over a creek with no bridge, then another 100 feet of rough concrete road in front of the school and then.... no more roads. And it took us an hour of crawling, and bumping and rolling but we made it to the school. Now I know how Martin felt with his new car last time.
 
We were met by Principal Rowena R. Sagun and Teacher Mary Jane F. Friginal  of Grades 5 and 6, who will occupy the new classrooms, who’s students are old enough to take care of the new classrooms, with brand new flushing toilets, compared to the principal’s office with the ‘squat-buhos’ style of toilet. We were told by Principal Sagun that they were visited by The Learning Tree for possible donation of computers but were turned down because their old classrooms are not properly secured to prevent theft of the computers. Prin. Sagun will request reconsideration with The Learning Tree with the new classrooms.
 
We were shown the stage which ‘temporarily ‘housed the students for more than a year, while waiting for additional space to come from heaven, as the teachers prayed for a miracle to happen.  And the miracle did happened when FtH donated the classrooms. The new classrooms were provided with lights, 4 ceiling fans, the chairs and tables will arrive tomorrow to complete the project, the painter will finish the label on the walls, the stainless steel marker is already in place; the movable partition was greatly improved from the earlier version; the walls are freshly painted just waiting for the inauguration to happen in January 2011 when the students are back in session. The new classrooms are a big contrast in appearance to the old dilapidated, un-repaired, un-painted classrooms with broken glass.
 
We were treated to lunch of rice with sweet and sour sauce on assorted kind of fish, small fried fish, and a mix of veggies of corn, peas and carrot direct from the USA. It was a very welcomed lunch prepared by the principal and the teacher, we traded some jokes and laughs and tentatively set the inauguration on Jan 19, 2011, weather permitting.
 
After lunch, we turned over a set of encyclopedias, a bag of toys, and a box of colored paper they can use in art class. We said our goodbyes and head back to the crossing, dreading the trip back, but we must,  to get home.
 
 
Pablito
Tuesday, December 21, 2010