Aboitiz Foundation, Inc. managing trustee Augusto Carpio III (3rd from right) and Dr. Virginia Zapanta, Mandaue City Schools Division Superintendent, lead the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the turnover of the library kit project in Mandaue City School for the Arts.  Joining them are (from left) Casili Barangay Captain Paterno Cabatingan Jr., school principal Flora Yllanan, Mandaue City Councilor Daddie Suico and Aboitiz Land Inc. community relations officer Corazon Baybay.

Four schools from Cebu, Talisay, Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu cities now have more books and reading materials for their students.

Aboitiz Land Inc., through the Aboitiz Foundation, Inc. (Foundation), donated P130,000 worth of library kits to the Zapatera Elementary School, Borromeo Brothers Elementary School, Mandaue City School for the Arts, and Science and Technology Education Center in separate ceremonies last March 16 to 17, 2011.

The turnovers were attended by Foundation EVP & managing trustee Sonny Carpio, AboitizLand community relations officer Corazon Baybay, representatives from each city government, education officials per division, barangay councils and officers from parent-teacher associations.

“The library kit is a reward for those schools with good academic performance, just like how these four schools topped the National Achievement Test in their respective divisions,” Carpio said.

Administrators of the beneficiary schools said they were grateful to have many new books added in their library and how thousands of students will learn from them.

The library kit donation started as a project of Pilmico Animal Nutrition Corporation, also an Aboitiz company, in Tarlac five years ago. Named as an “e-library” program, it addressed the lack of educational materials in public elementary schools. The program also aims to develop the reading habit in young pupils.