Recently, I attended a luncheon organized by the newly formed organization called "International Society of Young Filipino Accountants". Their main speaker was Mr. Washington Sycip, the founder of the biggest CPA firm in the Philippines. He is 87 yrs old and is now retired from the firm. His professional and personal accomplishments are very impressive.
In his speech, he remarked how Filipinos, who are now comfortably living abroad, can help the Philippines. He talked about the needs of public elementary and high schools, the importance of micro-financing to help the poor and healthcare.

He spoke of how during our time, the educational system was considered very good. As a result, there are many talented and successful Filipinos all over the world, able to earn a good living for themselves. As an example, there were at one time 70 to 80 supervisors and managers from Sycip who were hired to come to the US to teach and advise US Companies on the Sarbane-Oxley Act. The Sarbane-Oxley Act was passed by Congress in the wake of the Enron and WorldCom financial reporting standards, requiring stricter auditing standards.

At present, the educational system, which was once the envy of the Asian countries, is near the bottom of the list.Vicki Gachetorena of the Ayala Foundation, also one of the speakers, told us that students who took the National Achievement Test last year had only a 56% average. 

Mr. Sycip emphasized helping with the salary of the teachers and with textbooks at the elementary schools in the barrios. I was happy to hear him say that because we, at OMASC,  have already been doing that.   However we need to do more. We need to continue on the BOOK PROJECT.

I want to remind you that the school year here in the US is ending in a month. Let's send letters to the principals of the local schools in our area and ask them for their discarded textbooks. You don't have to know them. You'll be surprise at how happy they will be to share their books to children of other countries. Let's talk to janitors and teachers to make them aware that we are interested in their textbooks they no longer need. We accept books in READING, MATH AND SCIENCE.

This project is very rewarding as we are not only helping a few kids. We are helping hundreds of kids in a school not only for one year but for all the years those books are being read. We are also dealing with dedicated teachers whose main goal is to help their students learn.

Oh, and I might be able to get shipping donated.

Posted by Eleanor Evangelista