QC ready for 2102 Camp Pag-ibig

Monday 13th of February 2012

QUEZON CITY, Feb 13 (PIA) -- Quezon City (QC) will be spearheading again the multi-sectoral effort for the integration of children with special needs into mainstream society by playing host to the annual day-camp for children with intellectual disabilities on February 18 and 19 at the Balara Filters ground in QC.

The city government will set aside P400,000 to support the various programs and activities lined up by organizers during the two-day camp, aptly called Camp Pag-ibig .

The city government has been hosting Camp-Pag-ibig for the past 36 years to spread the gift of love to children with special needs.

With the changing pattern in the weather system brought about by climate change and a conscious effort to address disaster management, camp organizers will mount activities that are geared towards developing the coping mechanism and survival skills of the participants and their parents as well.

Workshops on disaster management will be provided by the Phil. Red Cross – QC Chapter in partnership with the Department of Education – National Capital Region.

Camp organizers are expecting about 2,000 participants this year, to represent 16 school divisions in the NCR and the schools division of Antipolo City , Morong in Rizal Province and Marilao in Bulacan. There will also be participants coming from the Philippine School for the Deaf, Philippine School for the Blind, Jose Fabella Memorial School , Hospicio de San Jose and the National Orthopedic Hospital – School for Crippled Children in QC.

QC Mayor Herbert Bautista, who is the honorary camp director for Camp Pag-ibig 2012, is set to keynote the affair, which will serve as one of the highlights of the celebration of the National Intellectual Disability Week from February 13 to 19 and part of the observance of the Philippine Decade of Persons with Disabilities (2003 – 2012) as outlined in Presidential Proclamation No. 240.

Camp Pag-ibig 2012 will have the theme “Developing Survival Skills for Children with Special Needs.”

Congressman Jorge “Bolet” Banal Jr., is this year’s camp director. His father, former QC Councilor Jorge Banal Sr., now the national president of the Federation of Senior Citizens Association of the Philippines (FSCAP), and Secretary Teresita Inciong, chairperson of the Early Childhood Care and Development Council, are overall coordinators. QC social services development department head Teresa Mariano is assistant camp director.

Manila Water president Gerardo Ablaza will deliver the welcome remarks.

Aside from the traditional outdoor camping activities, the 36th Camp Pag-ibig will also have magic and games, story-telling sessions, film showing, tree-planting activity, I luv2read sessions, musical and entertainment presentations, arts and crafts, and nature lore, among others.

Camp Pag-ibig, launched in 1976 by the Philippine Association for the Retarded (PAR), is also ably supported by the Jaycees Capitol, Inc. and the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) through its concessionaire, Manila Water. (RJB/AKG-PIA-NCR/QC-PIO)