Miles away from the main highways and national road, and still more miles into the interior of Pampanga, there is a small barangay called San Simoun. One must traverse the rice fields and paddies of three other barangays to get there. In many ways, it is at the end of the road.  But it is worth the effort, for in the middle of the barangay the elementary school San Nicolas proudly lines the one side of the street. 

The 400 or so children, more than twice the school population 40 or more years ago when Dave Santos and his brothers went to school there, are in eager attendance for the inauguration of two new classrooms, and of course the end year celebrations. When Dave and his brothers schooled there, most kids walked to school barefoot. For higher grades, they had to walk to another barangay! So the new classrooms here at San Nicolas would change all that. Dave’s brothers and family still live in the barangay, though Dave has moved on to business interests in the capital region. But they all know where their roots are.


When Dave invited me to his birthday a few months ago, at the QC Sports Complex, I thought this was an elegant celebration.  But he told me quietly he used that occasion to raise funds for building the classrooms, free cement, building materials, a volunteer carpenter and gifts for the children.


The project is a joint work of the Valenzuela Chapter of the Knights of Rizal, of which Dave is supreme auditor and member of the Supreme Council, and of the Rotary Club Metro Valenzuela, of which Dave is a member and past officer.
“School is the most important thing in my life, I had to work all the way through high school and college to get my degrees. But it all starts in the little barrio school!” says Dave.


Another astuteness, The Knights had prepared for the induction of six ambassadors but only four came for the ceremonies. There were two large busts of Rizal unallocated !  


“Would it be alight,” he asked the acting supreme commander,  “if I offered these to the new classrooms we are building in Pampanga?”  Many times, it is not the riches you have, but the resources you can tap, he told me.


These two large busts of the national hero thus became the special Rizal Corner in these two new classrooms, with a small shelf of books and other memorabilia. The classrooms and especially the Rizal Corner were duly blessed on this happy inauguration.
After, the Knights and the Rotary Club distributed small gifts the children.


 

 

 

Munting Nayon News Magazine