Annalie  T. Edday

Anne grew and live in Sarangani, a province that is a haven of beauty and bounty. It embodies the fascinating Sarangani bay that is endowed with marine richness best for fishing and diving coupled with a long stretch of white sand coastline. It is also gifted with vast abundant plains, beautiful landscape of mountains, countless waterfalls, clean rivers and historic caves.

 

Sarangani Province, created in 1992 by virtue of RA 7228 has seven municipalities and 140 barangays. Its 4,441 sq/km land area is inhabited by no less than 517,800 Sarangans coming from the groups of Lumads, Muslims and Christian migrants. The Muslim and Christian groups are mostly located in coastal areas while the Lumads are mostly situated in upland areas. More than 50% of the land area of Sarangani is hilly and mountainous.

 

While Sarangani flaunts its fascinating beauty and bounty, it cannot cast a shadow on its societal problems. Sarangani is one of the poorest provinces in the country. Six out of ten families is poor. Most of the poor families belong to indigenous groups who have long been deprived with access to road network, livelihood, health and other social and economic services from the national and local governments. Above all, they have long been deprived with access to their basic human right, the right for education. As a member of the indigenous group but had been blessed of good education, Anne felt the urgency to help improve access for education in upland communities. She believes that education is their best tool to get out from poverty that has been oppressing them for a long time.

 

When Anne was selected to serve as a Program Director of QUEST, the education-reform program that the Sarangani Provincial Government established in 2007 through the great leadership of Governor Miguel Rene Dominguez, she maximized the opportunity to help rally meaningful education-reform initiatives for her community. The efforts include opening of 118 elementary and secondary schools, building classrooms and class-dormitories, equitable distribution of Department of Education resources regardless of geographical location of schools and improving the state of the province’s education. 

 

Unmindful of the dangers of the mountains and rivers,  Anne, her team and program partners visited countless of upland communities to buoy-up hope and stir numerous collective actions to fight poverty through education. 

 

The collective actions which were fueled by inspirations, commitment and sacrifices resulted to significant and remarkable improvements in the education of the entire province. Eight out of ten kids are now in school from 4 out of 10 in 2006. Sarangani kids can also answer 7 out 10 questions correctly in the National Achievement Test from 4 out 10 in 2006. Moreover, 43% of the elementary schools have a passing achievement rate from 0% in 2006.  From being bottom-dweller province in the region in terms of achievement, now Sarangani sits as top-performer. They have also inspired and helped  eight cities and provinces establish their own education quest.  These statistics and other remarkable gains of the program, made Sarangani received a Galing Pook Award in 2012, a national award conferred by the President for Innovative and Excellence Programs.

 

Anne's quest for education and her fight to end the marginalization among the indigenous communities are not yet over. She knows there are still so much to be done and many challenges are awaiting but she firmly believe, it’s worth the fight.

 

Some Articles About Anne

 

My Lifetime Trek

 

Education Advocate Looks Back, Inspires More

 

Sarangani Indigenous Peoples Lauds Edday's Leadership

 

Asia Society Honors Young Filipino Leaders

 

Top Young Filipinos Picked for Asian Leaders Program

 

Sarangani Receives Award for Education