San Pedro, Laguna – Toshiba Corporation today donated 140 new notebook PCs to 14 public high schools in Laguna Province as part of its continuing support for the “Gearing up Internet Literacy and Access for Students” (GILAS) Project.

Promoted by the Ayala Foundation, GILAS is an ambitious nationwide program that seeks to improve computer literacy among students in public high schools. Toshiba has supported the program for the last three years with annual donations of 100 notebook PCs, 10 to each of 10 selected high schools. Toshiba today increased that with this year’s donation and handed over 140 new notebook PCs for 14 schools today, Toshiba made its donation to GILAS for the 4th year running at a turn-over ceremony held in San Pedro Relocation Center National High School.

GILAS, a multi-sector consortium, aims to provide Internet access to all public secondary school students countrywide. The goal of the campaign is to enhance information literacy by bringing all public high schools in the Philippines on-line. So far, the program has already brought Internet access to a total of 3,040 schools. Toshiba’s donations have made an important contribution to GILAS in Laguna – home to Toshiba Information Equipment (Philippines), Inc. and Toshiba Storage Device (Philippines), Inc., Toshiba’s main facilities for hard disk drive production – where 35% of public high schools have benefited from Toshiba’s support. With Toshiba’s latest donation, 94% of public high schools in Laguna will now have access to computers and to the internet, an 11% rise from the previous 83%.

“Toshiba Corporation is delighted to work with the Ayala Foundation and to be part of the GILAS project. By bringing computers and the Internet into the public high schools across the Philippines, the GILAS project is helping to build the future of this country. Toshiba also wants to contribute to a better future for people everywhere,” said Toshiharu Watanabe, Corporate Executive Vice President, Toshiba Corporation.

Toshiba is guided by a corporate philosophy rooted in the concept of “Committed to People, Committed to the Future.” In practical terms, that means that Toshiba seeks to contribute to society and to the communities in which it operates by supporting programs that promote social welfare, community development and science and technology education for young people. Toshiba is pleased to support the goals and achievements of the GILAS Project, as it is a powerful vehicle for supporting economic and social development through improving the material well-being of Philippine youth and opening up the world of information technology for them.

Executives from the Department of Education, present at the turn-over ceremony included:

• Br. Armin Luistro, Secretary of the Department of Education
• Mr. Reynaldo Laguda, Assistant Secretary, Chief-of-Staff, Department of Education
• Dr. Ester Lozada, Schools Division Superintendent, Province of Laguna

Executive from the Philippine Economic Zone Authority included:

• Atty. Lilia De Lima, Director General of the Philippine Economic Zone Authority

Executives from Ayala Foundation, Inc. present at the turn-over ceremony included:

• Mr. Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala II, Chairman and CEO of Ayala Corporation, Co-Chair of GILAS and Co-Vice Chair of Ayala Foundation, Inc.
• Ms. Vicky Garchitorena, President of Ayala Foundation, Inc.
• Mr. Guillermo Luz, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Ayala Foundation, Inc.

Executives from Toshiba present at the turn-over ceremony included:

• Mr. Toshiharu Watanabe, Corporate Executive Vice President, Toshiba Corp. and General Manager of Smart Community Division
• Mr. Shoji Yoshioka, Corporate Vice President and Corporate Representative-Asia of Toshiba Corporation and the Managing Director of Toshiba Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd.

School officials, teachers, students and other members of the community also attended the ceremony.

  

Press Contact:
Lucille Machuca
Toshiba Asia Pacific Pte.,Ltd.
Manila Representative Office
Email: tsb_mkti@toshiba.com.ph
Tel: 819-1048