LOPE DE VEGA, Northern Samar – Though Children’s Month is already over, the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) in Eastern Visayas continues to support schoolchildren in agrarian reform communities (ARCs), particularly in disaster-stricken areas.
Last week, 135 pupils at the Lower Caynaga Elementary School in this town received school supplies from DAR after Barangay Lower Caynaga and many other areas in the province were submerged in flood waters due to the heavy rainfall brought by the low pressure area and shear line.
Municipal Agrarian Reform Program Officer (MARPO) Loradelle Flores, assisted by the school’s head teacher, Bella Doinog, led the said distribution.
Aside from the school supplies, the schoolchildren also received snacks from Flores.
According to Flores, Barangay Lower Caynaga is among the villages within the Northern Samar Settlement project, an ARC area.
Grade five pupil, Jellyn Tonog, expressed gratitude to the DAR for the school items they received. According to her, some of their notebooks and papers were damaged by the flood.
Meanwhile, Doinog became emotional as she reminisced how the water in the river rose at about four early in the morning of November 20 this year prompting residents in low-lying areas to evacuate.
She also shared how grateful they are for the various relief assistance they received from different sectors but stressed that only DAR provided school supplies specifically for the schoolchildren.
(JOSE ALSMITH L. SORIA)
