THE Department of Education (DepEd) issued an appeal to the private sector to donate school supplies, as face-to-face classes resumed and as prices of learning materials increased.

Employees of Nickel Asia Corp. (NAC) responded to the DepEd call with a personal social responsibility (PSR) program they called “Lapis at papel, kapalit ay ngiti.”

The PSR was a companion to NAC’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) program from which DepEd gets its yearly funds for “Brigada Eskwela,” a program where private institutions provide free school supplies to public school students.

Heeding DepEd’s request with PSR, NAC employees pooled together personal funds and out-of-pocket resources, and engaged family members and friends to provide school supplies for all the students in the island of Manicani in Guiuan, Eastern Samar where NAC’s subsidiary, the Hinatuan Mining Corp.-Manicani Nickel Project, operated.

NAC’s PSR program was initiated some years back by employees from its head office at the NAC Tower in BGC in Taguig that had no easy access to the communities that NAC served.

The PSR continued to provide the opportunity for head office employees to have a social service activity in which they could participate.

NAC’s “Lapis at papel, kapalit ay ngiti” initiative has been running for three years, and this year, as physical classes resumed after suspensions due to the pandemic, NAC employees have chosen the students and teachers of Manicani as the program’s beneficiaries.

Maria Clariza Riveral, principal of Manicani’s Junior High School, expressed her appreciation that the students of Manicani were chosen as the program’s recipients, calling the gifts of school supplies as “blessings.”