One takeaway from working on this month’s Knowledge Channel Foundation Inc. (KCFI) feature is that the 16- year-old foundation led by Rina Lopez Bautista has gone way beyond helping teachers teach the three Rs to public school students.

Outside of the classroom, KCFI is able to grab a much bigger audience in the parents and other household members who are exposed to the Knowledge Channel through ABSCBN TVplus. But even in the classroom, getting the Knowledge Channel today has become a simple matter of plugging in the “mahiwagang black box”—a win-win for everyone involved.

Through the Learning Effectively through Enhanced Pedagogies (LEEP) program, KCFI also inculcates the importance of disaster preparedness awareness in our young. This is important not only because our generation is facing the prospect of experiencing the Big One in Luzon, but more so because of climate change and its effects—and it’s certainly not limited to just Luzon. This is why KCFI is expected to take LEEP and the 4K ng Kaligtasan: Kaalaman, Kakayahan, Kahandaan, Katatagan program to schools all over the country.

Bautista, along with Transmedia director Edric Calma and channel head Danie Sedilla-Cruz, updates us on these goings-on and all other things new from KCFI.

During their 50th wedding anniversary last year, Lopez Group chairman Amb. Manuel M. Lopez and spouse Maritess L. Lopez had asked friends to donate to Sagip Kapamilya in lieu of gifts. The result is the latest batch of typhoon-resistant classrooms recently turned over by Energy Development Corporation (EDC) to school officials in Passi, Iloilo. Read the details on page 8.

After getting our hands on the list of Dr. Ted Esguerra, we updated our emergency kit according to his “Lucky 9” items. Check out the must-haves prepared by the lead of EDC’s Disaster Preparedness and Response unit on page 10.

Still on preparedness, of the things we’re watching for is the Metro Manila-wide earthquake drill on July 30. As far as we remember, an exercise of this magnitude is a first for the metro, although the different cities have conducted their own independent simulations from time to time. The final scenario for the simulation is still shifting as of this writing but things should jell within the next few days.

There are a few kapamilya around who had the pleasure of knowing and working with Eugenio Lopez Sr. (EL Sr.). Thus, we rely on books such as those written by Raul Rodrigo to paint a picture of the Lopez Group founder. We see beyond the man who established a slew of enterprises that contributed towards nation-building, especially during the postwar years. We pay tribute to EL Sr., The Man, whose 114th birth anniversary we are commemorating this month.