University President Fr. Joel E. Tabora, SJ approved the second set of post-Pablo reconstruction projects both in the Municipality of Baganga, Davao Oriental and in the Province of Compostela Valley. One year to the day of Typhoon Pablo’s furious landfall in Baganga on 4th December 2013, Fr. Tabora gave his seal of approval to another set of projects which will rehabilitate an elementary building with two classrooms in Barangay Mikit in Baganga, as well as rehabilitate a classroom in Consuelo M. Valderrama High School in Barangay Ngan of the Province of Compostela Valley.
The lead office of this project is the Arrupe Office of Social Formation, in coordination with the University Community Engagement and Advocacy Council (UCEAC). It may well be remembered that the Arrupe Office initiated the first set of rehabilitation and reconstruction projects in Baganga in April to June of this year. Hence, the university, through the UCEAC, funded two daycare centers in Barangay Mikit and Barangay Campawan as well as a wet market in Barangay Lambajon. The university also distributed school kits to daycare schoolers, as well as provided solar charging stations, through the School of Engineering and Architecture and the Center for Renewable Energy and Appropriate Technology (CREATE), to several areas in Davao Oriental and ComVal, including Barangay Lambajon. These reconstruction projects initiated by the Arrupe Office are offshoots of the implementation of the Ateneo Student Exposure Program (ASEP) wherein thirteen (13) student volunteers (known as the Arrupe Vols) of the Arrupe Office and NSTP, and student leaders of the SAMAHAN Central Board and Campus Club Organizations (CCO) underwent a two-week exposure program in four barangays in Baganga last March to April 2013.
These projects were thought out to deepen and intensify the university’s community involvement in areas affected by Typhoon Pablo by leaving relevant and long-term projects considered to be responsive to these communities’ basic needs (as identified and expressed by the communities themselves). These concrete engagements are also part of the continuing effort of the university to assist these communities in the process of reconstruction and healing after the ravages of Typhoon Pablo. The Arrupe Office, being the lead proponent, also underscores that these projects are manifestations of the university’s gratitude to these communities for their significant contribution in the implementation of the ASEP and other exposure/immersion programs relative to the thrust and the vision-mission of the university.
This new set of reconstruction projects will commence in December of this year and is expected to be completed in February of 2014. Mr. Karl Anthony P. Ebol, RSW, the Community Engagement Officer (CEO) of the Arrupe Office, is designated as the Project Manager. (By M. Isabel S. Actub, Arrupe Communications & Advocacy)