The crisp and cool December air contrasted sharply with the warm spirit emanating from St. Mary’s University in Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya last December 3. The warmth came from the zeal and enthusiasm of community leaders supporting the campaign to improve public education in their municipality. It was the launching of Jollibee Foods Corporation’s Busog Lusog Talino (BLT) project, an in-school feeding program for more than two hundred Grades 1 and 2 students in seven elementary schools of Bayombong. The project is part of the 57-75 Campaign to reverse the education crisis in partnership with the local Department of Education, the local government of Bayombong, St. Mary’s University and Jollibee Solano.

Bayombong is a second-class municipality in Nueva Vizcaya, lying between the majestic Sierra Madre and Caraballo Mountain Ranges. As the capital town, Bayombong is the center of major government and educational institutions and is bustling with service industries that support mostly government employees and students from all ages. The town of Bayombong relies primarily on income from being a government and academic center.

Bayombong’s most important asset is its human resource so it came as a shock to Mayor John Severino Bagasao to learn that the average achievement scores of their elementary pupils for SY 2006-2007 is only 53%, below what is already a dismal national average of 59%. “The poor academic performance of soon-to-be employees and students of higher education greatly undermines the future and potentials of our municipality that relies heavily on the capacity of its human resources. It is imperative to immediately address this concern; otherwise, Bayombong might literally be left behind.” Upon hearing of the 57-75 Campaign, Mayor Bagasao immediately signed up his town to be one of the pilot sites and is the first to implement a program under the Campaign.

Bayombong’s readiness to take on this task is not surprising given its experience in participatory governance. Since 2006, the Jollibee Foundation and AIM-Team Energy Center for Bridging Societal Divides have been training community leaders from both Bayombong and Santa Fe on the social technology of Bridging Leadership. The goal was to create a governance process and structure responsive to the needs of the citizens, leading to a better quality of life.  The Citizen-Responsive Governance project brought local stakeholders together in a dialogue process, resulting in a shared Municipal Development Agenda that now serves as the centerpiece program of Mayor Bagasao in his second term. Addressing the education crisis is one of the major elements of this agenda. A Multi-Sector Committee on Education was also formed to lead the efforts to realize the Education Agenda. Members of this Committee – the Municipal Planning and Development Office, Saint Mary’s University, DepEd Supervisors of Bayombong’s Districts – also comprise 57-75 Task Force-Bayombong.

The Committee immediately identified the seven lowest performing elementary schools in the municipality that will receive assistance for the first year under the 57-75 Campaign. Priority was given to the in-school feeding program to improve attendance of students and reduce the drop-out rate. While the schools are already implementing feeding programs from the meager income of canteen earnings, the feeding activity was mostly sporadic and done as part of the already heavy workload of the Nutrition Coordinators.

As part of the national Task Force 57-75, Jollibee Foundation provided technical assistance to the seven schools to improve their capacity to scale-up the feeding program. Based on its own experience in implementing the BLT project in Manuel L. Quezon Elementary School in Tondo, and that of Kabisig Kalahi Foundation, an NGO focusing on community-based feeding program, Jollibee Foundation incorporated parent involvement in managing the feeding project. Planning the lunch menu and supervising the cooking is done by the school’s Nutrition Coordinator; marketing, cooking and actual feeding are done by the parents. This both eases the burden on the educators and teaches parents how to cook and serve nutritious but affordable meals. Jollibee Foods Corporation funded the daily feeding at P10 per child and also sponsored a seminar for parents on proper feeding of students by the Food and Nutrition Research Institute. The Kalinga Mission Center, the community extension arm of St. Mary’s University, will continue to hold monthly seminars on Nutrition, Health and Parenting sessions, with volunteer faculty and students as lecturers.

Other stakeholders have also given their support to the Campaign. At the Monday launch, Mayor Bagasao committed the support of the barangay captains where the seven schools are located. In his message, he reminded the barangay heads that “Education is a priority of our municipality, and words without corresponding action are empty”. The barangay officials will set up suitable cooking areas in each school and supplement the daily allocation per student with other food items. Monthly weighing of malnourished students will be conducted with the rural health units. The Diocese of Bayombong will teach parents to produce local clay stoves called Silkalan that are fuel-efficient and environment-friendly.

Jollibee’s in-school feeding program aims to address hunger (Busog) to improve the health condition of the students (Lusog), ensuring their attendance and participation in classes (Talino). It serves to catalyze community support to sustain the results of the program With the parents themselves involved in the feeding process, it is hoped that proper feeding will start at home so that students come to school everyday ready and able to learn their lessons. Under the leadership of Mayor Bagasao, Bayombong is set to prove that with community involvement, every student can learn. The partnership among various sectors in Bayombong not only shows everyone’s commitment to the cause of education but also makes real the opening prayer at the launching event, that “(we are) partners in serving God and one another so that together we reach out to bring back the warmth of humanity”.

Philip Francisco Dy is the Training Manager of the AIM-Team Energy Center for Bridging Societal Divides (formerly AIM-Mirant Center) and has been assisting Bayombong in the Citizen Responsive Governance Project.