• ANDONI LLANTADA VALENCIA
The Llantada family headed by its matriarch, Angeles Tort vda. de Llantada, widow of Juan Antonio “Nene” Menchaca Llantada, led the “Gift Giving Activity for the Students of Menchaca Elementary School in Memory of Nene Llantada,” together with Carla Llantada Escober, Butch Escober, Lorenzo Llantada Escober, Enrique Llantada Escober and Andoni Llantada Valencia last January 20 at the Menchaca Elementary School located inside Hacienda Refugio, Calatrava, Negros Occidental.
The program was managed by the faculty and staff of the school, starting with the singing of the Philippine National Anthem, followed by the opening prayer through a song number. Carla Llantada Escober delivered a short message on the history of the school and the importance of education in today’s generation.
She mentioned that the school was founded by Don Antonio Menchaca and further developed and expanded by Don Roberto Llantada, who was a firm believer of education and made emphasis that children of hacienda workers specifically the workers of Hacienda Refugio and Hacienda Cubay should have access to quality education.
That is why in the 1960’s, Menchaca Hermanos through Don Roberto donated the one-hectare property where the school now sits. For a time, Nene Llantada studied in Menchaca Elementary School after World War II.
Menchaca Hermanos, predecessor-in-interest of Menchaca Integrated Agricultural Corporation (MINA) was one of the few haciendas in Negros that offered free housing, 10kwh of electricity and a school site for their sugar workers and their children. This is an embodiment of the vision of Don Antonio Madariaga Menchaca, original owner of the Menchaca Hermanos landholdings (now MINA), and the first mayor elected in the Municipality of Calatrava, a pivotal figure in the transformation of the small town to what it is today.
The beneficiaries of the activity were one hundred students who are in deep need of school supplies for their daily use. The students were pre-selected by the Kindergarten to Grade VI teachers.*
