LOS BAŇOS, Laguna – A village day care center in this town is now lit up using solar energy this Christmas season.
This was made possible through the initiative of the employees’ social and community responsibility project (CSR) of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) in CALABARZON region.
The DOST-CALABARZON (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon) regional office made the symbolic turnover and lighting ceremonies here on Monday.
DOST-CALABARZON Director Dr. Alexander Madrigal presented and turned over the prototype day care center replica to Los Baños Mayor Caesar Perez; Luzviminda Alvarez of the local government’s Office for Senior Citizens Affairs; Barangay Bagong Silang chair Rufino Maloles; and Day Care Center head Minah Joy Manaog during the DOST Calabarzon 54th anniversary celebration.
Madrigal commended the project that provides services focused on science and technology (S & T) as a way of giving back to the communities through “personal monetary contributions from the employees from the regional office” as well as other DOST provincial S & T center’s CSR projects across the region.
Present at the turnover rites were Assistant Regional Director Dr. Lydia Manguiat and employees Emelita Bagsit, Rogerson Esmeria, John June Paran and Mark Gilbert, who made possible in the selection of Barangay Bagong Silang Day Care Center as this year’s chosen beneficiary of the CSR project.
The CSR project augurs well for the science and technology agency’s anniversary theme “Improving Lives and Sustaining Inclusive Regional Growth through Innovative Programs and Services” for this far-flung village.
Barangay Bagong Silang is an upland barangay at the slope of Mt. Makiling, about a two-hour trek from the town proper, according to Racquel Pabalate, a Los Baños resident who had travelled to the highland village for a socio-civic undertaking.
Perez thanked the DOST employees for their personal contributions in putting up the solar panels to brighten the day care center that freed the town’s expenditure from its meager PHP 286 million budget.
He also thanked Presidential Adviser for Southern Luzon Secretary Jose Maria Nicomedes F. Hernandez for supporting the project undertaking.
The mayor likewise commended the DOST officials and employees among UPLB alumni who are imbued with their corporate mission on social payback to put up the CSR energization project utilizing the solar panels, including the proposed plan of applying S & T in addressing the traffic congestion at the town’s main highway junction through DOST intervention programs.
He also cited the latest undertaking on the Los Baños “Science Tourism” program hatched by the DOST’s Dr. Madrigal, who also heads the Los Baños Science Community Foundation Inc.
Perez also commended the DOST regional director for the sustainable S & T applications and processes for lengthening the “shelf life” to one year of the town’s popular “buko pie” delicacy. (Saul Pa-a/PNA)
