Men and Women in Heels (Health.Education.Environment.Livelihood.Shelter. )

“I have been in the education sector for 26 years now, three years of that as the principal of Bayanan Elementary School which I serve to this day. One of the challenges I had to deal with when I first came here was the issue on malnutrition. Many kids were from poor families and went to school with empty stomachs, while others were always absent because they were sick. When Mondelez and PBSP came here to fund a feeding program, I made every effort to ensure that the pupils will attend and get the nutrition they need. We give special awards to kids enrolled in the program who have complete attendance and recognize those who got perfect scores in periodic exams. When we started, half of them were non-readers. Afer three years, all of them could read already. In fact, some of them graduated with honors while others competed in an invitational baseball competition and won! My dream is that these children will grow up as helpful members of society.”—ANTONIO GAGALA, Principal of Bayanan Elementary School (Main) in Muntinlupa City