Mayor Lucio Gonzales is delighted to have Pilar, one of the towns in the island of Siargao, Surigao del Norte, as one of the Community eCenter (CeC) beneficiaries for this year. The town’s selection means a great deal to its constituents. Pilar has no Internet café or facilities in the area. With the CeC Program, however, Mayor Gonzales anticipates it to significantly affect his constituent’s lives, particularly their education through ICT.

The town of Pilar is known as the Game Fishing Capital of the Philippines because of its famous Magpupungko Beach, visited by both local and international tourists. When these tourists ask where and how they can connect to the Internet while they are in Pilar, the answer was always the same: Go to Dapa, an hour away from Pilar.

Facing this dilemma, Mayor Gonzales set about to look for an Internet service provider to have their local government unit connected online, not only for the benefit of the tourists but also for all Pilar residents. What he found was the CeC Program, and the rest is history.

Socorro Mayor Mamerto Galanida (rightmost) led the participants of the CeC orientation held in February in Socorro, Surigao del Norte

Situated in the lone island of Siargao, the municipality of Socorro knows that a Community eCenter would greatly help in keeping them abreast with the most current news and information. Seeking to maximize the potential of the Internet and the information that it makes available, the municipality is looking forward to turning their CeC into an ICT learning center for all Socorronhons.

For this purpose, a CeC orientation was conducted last February 9, 2010 at the Balanghai Social Hall, Socorro, Surigao del Norte. Of the dozens who attended the orientation, a principal had this to say of Socorro CeC: "With a CeC in our municipality, teachers who don't even have an idea what a mouse is can now be educated on ICT matters."

Socorro's potential for service is not limited to teachers alone. Through the Internet and literacy training, the doors to employment opportunities are now open to all Socorronhons.

A day at the Montinola Information Center

Montinola Information Center is a fulfilled promise to the local people of Nasipit, Agusan del Norte. The project was envisioned by Mayor Roy Orlando D. Dayon for local residents and students to gain access to various books and publications as well as knowledge and information of every kind.  

The project was inaugurated last January 19, 2009, making it officially a year old. The building that houses the center is named after the Montinola family who donated the land on which it stands.

At present, the center boasts of an air-conditioned facility with sixteen computers connected to the Internet, different selections of books and magazines, a separate book section for little ones aged eight and below, an audio-visual room for film showing which also doubles as a conference room, and a receiving area.

Even before learning of the Philippine Community eCenter (CeC) Program, Mayor Dominador G. Esma, Jr. had already planned to set up an e-library for the municipality of Alegria. When he got the news about the CeC Program, he did not think twice about accepting the invitation to host a CeC in their municipality. To date, Alegria is the only mainland CeC recipient in Surigao del Norte.

After signing the Memorandum of Agreement during the Cagayan de Oro leg of Convergence 2009, an orientation was conducted for Alegria on February 8, 2010 at the municipality’s function hall. The orientation was attended by forty-three participants from various sectors to include heads of offices, barangay officials, core group and SB members and other key municipal officials.

The orientation was designed to tackle the different questions the participants had about the CeC Program. Alegria’s orientation discussed the program, what it is all about, the key players, the roles and responsibilities of the municipality as CeC recipient host, the packages they are entitled to, the services they can offer and how the local government unit (LGU) can benefit from the CeC.