TACLOBAN CITY (CIO) — Tacloban City Mayor Alfred S. Romualdez along with Donors from the Big Heart Children’s Fund led the turnover ceremony of a basketball court to North Hill Arbours Integrated School (NHAIS) today, November 7 at Brgy.106 Sto. Niño.

The basketball court which was donated by the Big Heart Children’s Fund through its Director John O’ Donoghue and members Ann O’Brien and Katherine O’Brien started construction last September and was completed this month.

According to O’ Donoghue, the said facility is just one way to show their support to the education sector and provide the school with a venue for its activities.

“We started coming to Tacloban after Yolanda and I saw the needs of the community. There’s no recreation, no facilities and by that, I just want to help them,” said O’ Donoghue.

Meanwhile, Mayor Romualdez thanked the donors for coming up with the project and urged the teachers to remind their students to be responsible for maintaining the said facility as their way of giving honor to the donors.

“It would be nice if we also show them that we can maintain it and use it properly. We use it not only to educate our children but to have fellowship with our children and their friends,” said Romualdez.

“And now, we instill good values to them that they not only learn but they practice so that we will have a better and strong community, “he added.

The local Chief Executive also pledged the construction of the facility’s covered court to maximize the use of it.

As the project will benefit the needs of students in NHAIS which has a population of about 1,120 from Kindergarten to Junior High School, the School Principal Noel Coritana extends his gratitude to the City Government and the donors from the Big Heart Children’s Fund.

“They fulfilled their commitment to us. Everything has been financed well that’s why the school is very grateful to them,” stressed Coritana.

The School Principal promised as well to ensure the orderliness and cleanliness of the said court.

Also present during the turn-over ceremony was Public Schools District Superintendent Annie Pagatpat, other teaching personnel, and some Department of Education (DepEd) officials.

The NHAIS was established in 2017 and is one of the schools in the northern part of the city that cater to the needs of community-youth to education. – C. Merin/CIO

Photos: K. E. Napala/CIO