Close to 1,000 High school graduates who are beneficiaries of Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program gathered in a regional graduation event at Pagadian city gymnasium on April 21, 2015 dubbed as “ Pagtatapos niyo, Tagumpay ng Pilipino: Pagdiriwang para sa Pantawid Pamilya Graduates ng 2015.”
The students who came from Pagadian City and nearby municipalities of Zamboanga del Sur were honored and recognized for their significant achievement of finishing high school. The event aims to stage recognition ceremony for the graduating beneficiaries, highlighting 300,000 graduates nationwide and more than 23,354 graduates regionwide. It also seeks to introduce access to opportunities for High school graduates to the different partner’s services.
Several key officials of the different National Government Agencies (NGAs) in the region such as Department of Labor and Employment, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, Department of Science and Technology, Department of Health and Department of Education graced the event to witness and take part in the said ceremony. Some schools and universities also came to set up their booths to offer their academic programs to the students.
Apart from the graduates the program has produced, the event also recognized the 901 academic achievers composed of 108 Valedictorians, 71 Salutatorians and 711 With Honors and Honorable Mention in the region. Provincial representatives Elmer Gumabo of Zamboanga Sibugay, Crisjane Mandawa of Zamboanga del Sur, Kieth Jasper Guantero of Zamboanga del Norte and Ronnie Giap of Zamboanga City who are Valedictorians in their respective provinces served as the event highlights which showcased their sharing of stories during the talk show segment.
In his Valedictory speech, Elmer Gumabo, a class Valedictorian from Buayan National High School, Kabasalan, Zamboanga Sibugay province shared his determined spirit to finish high school with flying colors. He also thanked the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program for being instrumental to his success today. In his speech he shared “ Ipingmamalaki ko na ako ay isang benepisyaryo ng Pantawid Pamilya. Iminulat neto ang aking isipan na kailangan hindi ako sumuko sa aking mga pagsubok dahil malaki ang tulong na ginawa nila sa akin at hindi ko dapat ito sayangin. “
Meanwhile, Department of Education Provincial Division Superintendent Mr.Arturo Bayucot expressed his appreciation to the students. In his graduation message he said, “Kayo po ang malaking katibayan na ang Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program is a very big and successful project of the Philippine Government”. He also lauded the students for their hard work to finish high school and for being the harvest of the synergized efforts of the different development partners who worked together with DSWD for the Pantawid Pamilya Pilipino Program implementation.
The provincial representatives also joined with other regional representatives and more than 11,000 graduates of National Capital Region during the national graduation ceremony held in Araneta Coliseum last April 23.
Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program is a human development program that invests in the health and education of poor households primarily children aged age 0-18. To date, Region IX has 287,702 Households where 529,877 of them are monitored children ages 3-18 years old. ##