Employees are one of the foundations of an organization.

As the salt harvest season approaches at the Pangasinan Salt Center in Barangay Zaragoza, Bolinao, Pangasinan Provincial Administrator Melicio Patague II visited to personally check on the seventy-four seasonal salt farmers.

There, he noticed Armando, a fifty-six-year-old backhoe operator.

He saw that Armando’s eyeglasses were held together with wire.

“I need these, of course, to be able to read messages clearly, but it’s broken, the part that holds it together,” said Armando De Guzman, Backhoe Operator at Pangasinan Salt Center.

Meanwhile, Marcelino, Jimwell, and Marlon were shy about smiling due to their missing teeth.

“I saw one of our kababayan and thought, let’s provide dentures for him,” said Melicio Patague II, Pangasinan Provincial Administrator.

Jimwell had long dreamed of having dentures, but with just enough income, he prioritized his essential needs first.

And so, their small wish was immediately fulfilled by Governor Ramon V. Guico III.

Armando, who previously used wire to hold his glasses, was given a new pair.

Jimwell, Marcelino, and Marlon, who used to be shy about smiling and speaking, are now overjoyed with their new dentures.

The salt farmers are deeply grateful for their early Christmas gift from the provincial government, led by Governor Ramon V. Guico III.

“My dream has finally come true, sir. Thank you very much to all of you, sir. I look handsome, ma’am, now that I have dentures,” Jimwell Opolento, a salt farmer of Pangasinan Salt Center thanked the government.

“Thank you very, very much to Sir Nestor Batalla, to PA Patague, and to Governor Guico. If not for them, I still wouldn’t have teeth today, so thank you so much to them,” Marcelino Belda, a salt farmer of Pangasinan Salt Center thanked the government.

**VALERIE ANN DISMAYA