RIYADH, 27 October 2005 — The Christmas season is still weeks away but residents of a community in Cavite province, south of Manila, are in for an early celebration.
The unexpected gift will come in the form of a classroom to be built from a donation from John E. Esplanada, a projects manager of a construction and contracting company in Riyadh.
Esplanada donated $4,000 through Fesscor, one of the community groups in the Kingdom which have responded to the challenge to build schoolhouses in the Philippines through the CGMA project.
CGMA stands for Classroom Galing sa mga Manggagawang Pilipino Abroad, or classrooms from overseas Filipinos.
Esplanada’s donation, one of the biggest from an individual donor, is intended to build one classroom at the Alfonso Central School in Cavite.
Fesscor officials selected the school as a beneficiary for its CGMA project.
Ambassador Bahnarim Guinomla and Consul Germinia V. Aguilar-Usudan received the check from Esplanada during the Fesscor’s Musical and Fashion Tableau held recently at the Philippine Embassy.
Other proceeds from Fesscor’s benefit show were given to distressed Filipino workers housed temporarily at the embassy-run Bahay Kalinga in Riyadh.
“We have already distributed assorted foodstuff to the Bahay Kalinga and one-way air tickets to stranded Filipinos,” Fesscor President Art Basilio Capulong told Arab News.
He said the air tickets were donated by Gulf Air, courtesy of Country Manager Adel Al-Tamimi.
Capulong also thanked JME Paradise Inn Resort, JME Poultry & Farm, JME Apartments, Mr. and Mrs. Sonny Bello of Riyadh International School (RIS), Charlie Dahug ng DCF Cargo Forwarders, YSOP Fashion Studio, Al Injazat Trading Corporation — Nivea, Arnold Dela Cruz, Evangeline Dantic, Cynthia Macaspac of Cynthia’s Catering, Jetkido Martial Arts Brotherhood Incorporated, Comsofil and the The Filipino Channel (TFC) for their support to the benefit show.
