TANDAG CITY- More than 500 graduates of the School-on-the-Air (SOA) program marched to get their certificates during the mass graduation held in Tandag City on September 30, 2019.

The SOA graduates comprised farmers, students, Agricultural Extension Workers (AEWs) and other stakeholders.

Gov. Alexander T. Pimentel of Surigao del Sur graced the said graduation ceremony. Along with him is Provincial Agriculturist Marcos M. Quico as well as with the City and Municipal Agriculturists of the participating Local Government Units (LGUs) in Surigao del Sur.

Tandag City Mayor Roxanne Pimentel also showed her support to the program and to cacao industry by encouraging farmers to really apply the knowledge they have gained from the SOA.

On the other hand, Sr. Agriculturist Heracleo A. Paler, thanked the Province of Surigao del Sur through the Provincial Agriculture Office for the full support during the implementation period. For getting participants as SOA enrollees and providing the Resource Persons on-board in the radio station. “We hope that the partnerships between ATI and LGUs still there and fiery as always,” Paler added.

Overall topnotchers were recognized by giving them certificates of award and other prizes during the program.

The SOA program on Cacao Production in Surigao del Sur which runs for four (4) months on-air has finally culminated. This is funded under the High Value Crops Development Program (HVCDP) of the Agricultural Training Institute-Regional Training Center (ATI-RTC) 13.

Moreover, the Regional, Provincial and Municipal SOA Coordinators helped each other in facilitating the comfort of the SOA graduates as to venue, transportation and catering services before the said activity.

Ms. Ginalyn V. Arbutante, Info Officer II of ATI-Caraga and Mr. Fritzieh C. Trujillo, Info. Officer of OPAg-SDS are the assigned Regional and Provincial SOA Coordinators.