In October 2007, the IP Foundation initiated revival of “Bayanihan”
Mr.Santos emphasized that the IP Foundation will make a statement about children and youth and the future of this country. Santos raised the fact that only 60% of elementary and high school enrollees at the beginning grade or year, reached the final grade, and graduate within the required number of years of study. He also mentioned that in the case of the Indigenous Peoples, only 2% of their population completed college education, 19% secondary education, and 18% or 2 million has no education at all.
“We would like to help in the preparation of our children and youth to become competitive women and men and therefore, we should invest in education”, Santos further stressed while challenging the Foundation’s partners- the Barangay officials and leaders of the local chapter of the Philippine Guardians in working together. Santos announced that the IP Foundation will tap community-based libraries to mentor children and youth on Science, Match, and English (SME Centers). In addition, Santos realized the need for communities to have economic opportunities to support education. This is where the ICT enterprises come in. Partners will earn from these facilities in order to sustain the public life library and in the future fund other undertakings on education.
Mr. Santos also appreciated the initiatives of the Barangay in improving the services of its information and reading center. He noted that the barangay needs a library system, a permanent librarian who can be an ICT mentor, story books, and internet connectivity. As regards access to ICT, Santos said “Access of out of school children and youth to library and ICT facilities should likewise be provided”.
As regards healthcare, Santos brought up the high rate of children and youth victims of rabies. Accordingly, IP Foundation and the Family Vaccine and Specialty Clinics will focus on pre-exposure treatments campaigns which will be done with concerned local leaders.
In his final statement, Mr. Santos said that IP Foundation believes in partnership with barangay governments and community-based organizations for better-assisted communities that will produce pillars of the Filipino society.
From the end of the the local government, Ed Tiongson, the outgoing barangay captain who inked the partnership with IP Foundation and the local Philippine Guardians, talked about building communities. “Better together for positive things happen when citizen residents share with and care for one another” Tiongson said. He carries this as he actively takes part in the Barangay Committee on Education and Functional Literacy.
Taking the new challenge, Barangay Captain Angel Tiongson committed to sustain the initiative with vigor and see to it that children and youth in their barangay are educated with the aid of ICT.
Commissioner Rizalino Segundo of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples and Congressman Carlos Padilla showed their support to the joint undertaking of IP Foundation, the Barangay of Poblacion North, and the local Philippine Guardians. Both agreed that SME Centers are trailblazing facilities that will make a difference in the lives of children and youth, in particular the indigenous peoples.
Other sites that are being considered by the IP Foundation for SME Centers are Doroluman, Arakan, North Cotabato; Batasan, Makilala, Cotabato; Catubig, Northern Samar; and San Francisco, Southern Leyte.
