Punlaan School values support from Glad/Clorox

Theresa Mendoza, 20, is a daughter of a market vendor with no chance to study after high school. Now she is a food attendant at the Peninsula Manila Hotel. Jocelyn Suarez, 21, had no means to go to college. Now she is a Supervisor at UCC Vienna Café. Bernadette Martinez, whose father is a farmer in Quezon, is now a chef in a hotel in Ireland. Myrna Tiongson, longed to help her family have a stable income, since her parents were unemployed. Today, she is a food attendant at a cruise liner based in Florida. Rina Santos, 18, a tricycle driver’s daughter, is now a Commis at the Makati Shangri-La Hotel.

What is common to all of these successful career young women?

They are all graduates of Punlaan School’s two-year Dual Training Scholarship Program in Food and Beverage Services for under privileged young women. And they were all employed immediately upon graduation.

Punlaan School, located at 173 M. Paterno St., San Juan, Metro Manila, is a modest two-storey building that provides training such as cooking, baking, waitressing, accounting, computer literacy, and restaurant communication arts among others, to 120 scholars yearly. The scholars undergo an intense one-year in-house training in Punlaan School and one-year on-the-job, hands-on training in a prestigious hotel or restaurant, industry partners of the school, such as the EDSA Shangri-La Hotel, Intercontinental Hotel, Carpaccio, Le Souffle, Oakwood Hotel, to name a few.

Punlaan School is a non government organization, a technical vocational school and tourism training center accredited by the Technical Skills and Development Authority (TESDA). It opened its doors in 1975 to initially offer a Home Arts course that will professionalize work in the home of household helpers. Since then, Punlaan has grown and is now a byword in the tourism industry for hotels and restaurants. Its graduates are the breadwinners of their families and they have been able to send young siblings to college, pay for medical, and grocery bills, and utilities. But most of all, Punlaan graduates bring with them proper work values that propelled them on the road to success.

Punlaan credits private companies such as Clorox International Philippines Inc., manufacturers of Glad and Clorox products, for its continued support to their programs. At a special gathering feted by Punlaan to its patrons and donors in Manila recently, Clorox further exemplified said commitment by giving out free kitcken products such as Glad Aluminum Foil, Glad Bake Paper, Glad Zipper Bags as well as Clorox and Pine-Sol cleaning products.

The meaningful event also saw guests, relatives and friends of Punlaan School enjoying a program that featured moving testimonials from the students and simple merienda treat including Turon ala Napoleon and Chocolate Chip Banana Bread prepared by the students.

Punlaan School is just one among the institutions actively supported by Clorox as it remains committed to providing not just high quality products to its growing customers but also, helps improve the lives of young women.

For inquiries or details on Punlaan School, contact Luz M. Filmer, executive director at 726-7762. Punlaan School is a project of the Foundation for Professional Training Inc.