“My father believes in teaching people how to fish rather than giving them fish. He always told me not to give money, give an education that will last a lifetime,” celebrity cosmetic surgeon Vicki Belo said yesterday.

Belo was in Bacolod for the turnover of a two-room preschool building, funded by her Ike and Nena Belo Foundation, to the Crispino V. Ramos Elementary School.

She made the donation through Aklat Gabay at Aruga Tungo sa Pag-Angat at Pag-asa Foundation chaired by presidential sister Pinky Aquino-Abellada.

Belo said the Ike and Nena Belo Foundation is dedicated to education, and to helping children with birth marks and burn victims. The foundation has also funded the full renovation of the treatment room of the Children’s Cancer Ward and Hematology Center at the Philippine Children’s Medical Center in Quezon City.

The foundation is in honor of her parents, lawyer Enrique Belo who is from Cebu and Florencia who is from Capiz.

Celebrity Kris Aquino introduced her sister, Pinky, to Belo.

Belo said that when Abellada explained to her the work of AGAPP in promoting preschool education, it made a lot of sense.

Preschool education is important because once you gain confidence that you are smart, you study more, she said.

“If a pupil goes to grade one without any preschool background, the child will feel stupid and lost and a lot drop out,” she said.

“Education is the future of our country, without it we will never get anywhere,” Belo said, so, “When I heard of Pinky’s advocacy I was so inspired.”

Belo said she had been looking for somebody she could trust that money she donated would be spent properly, and she found that in Abellada. She said her foundation will fund more preschools through AGAPP in the future.

Belo was accompanied yesterday by her daughter Cristalle Henares, who had worked as a preschool teacher under the Jesuit Volunteers Philippine in Bukidnon.*CPG

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