Manila Water Company: Carmen inaugurates first CGMA project in municipality

Carmen inaugurates first CGMA project in municipality

Posted: Tuesday May 15, 2007

Two public schools in Carmen, Cebu became the first beneficiaries of two new school buildings from the Classroom Galing sa Mamamayang Pilipino Abroad (CGMA) in the municipality. Mitsubishi Corporation, in cooperation with Manila Water Company, funded the construction of 4 new classrooms in Luyang Elementary School and 2 new classrooms in Dawis Sur Elementary School. The project was coursed through the CGMA, a program of the Department of Labor.

Local government and school officials as well as representatives from Mitsubishi and Manila Water were on hand to inaugurate the two new school buildings on May 8, 2007. The Mitsubishi group was headed by its Country Manager, Mr. Toshifumi Inami while Manila Water was represented by its Chief Finance Officer and Treasurer, Sherisa P. Nuesa.

Local government and school officials were one in saying that the project will serve a significant contribution to the municipality’s education programs, especially considering the shortage of classrooms in the two schools. Specifically, the 4 new classrooms in Luyang Elementary School will improve the classroom ratio to 40 students from a previous 50 students per classroom. Dawis Sur Elementary School will also greatly benefit from the 2 new classrooms since it used to accommodate two grade levels per classroom due to lack of rooms.

For her part, Manila Water representative Ms. Nuesa said, “Corporate social responsibility has always been one of the core strategies of Manila Water. We make sure there are sustainable benefits for all our stakeholders, such as Carmen Municipality. We are fortunate to have partners like Mitsubishi Corporation who share the same vision.” She also mentioned that the classroom project is consistent with the Ayala group’s thrust of promoting education in its sustainable development initiatives. Ms. Nuesa added, “We in Manila Water consistently seek to align our business goals with the social welfare of the communities we serve. We believe that the education of the youth in Carmen is very crucial in the municipality’s development.”

The classroom project was initiated by Mitsubishi as part of its corporate social responsibility program. Mitsubishi is one of the largest conglomerates in Japan and is a stockholder of both Manila Water and Ayala Corporation. Manila Water is the lead member of a consortium which is the original proponent of the Carmen Bulk Water Supply Project. This project aims to extract water from the Luyang-Cantumog River in Carmen municipality for distribution in Metro Cebu through the Metro Cebu Water District.

In addition to the school buildings, Manila Water also donated desktop computers so that the students may be able to take computer lessons as well as access the Internet. Computer literacy is presently not part of the schools’ curriculum.