Army troops to join Brigada Eskwela

MANILA, Philippines -The Philippine Army is deploying a battalion of its troops in Metro Manila tomorrow to support the Department of Education (DepEd)’s Brigada Eskwela or National Schools Maintenance Week.

Brigada Eskwela is a yearly joint undertaking of concerned government agencies a month before the official opening of classes nationwide. This year, classes will open on June 2.

The soldiers, along with teachers and parents, will clean schools, repair damaged school facilities and do maintenance work like repainting.

Army spokesman Lt. Col. Noel Detoyato said 500 soldiers from the Civil Military Operations Group, Civil Military Operations Battalion and the Headquarters and Headquarters Support Group will be deployed to 33 schools in Muntilupa City, Taguig City, Makati City, Marikina City, Caloocan City, Pasay City, Pateros and Tondo, Manila starting tomorrow.

“This annual activity is also our way of communicating with the children as per the Army’s Transformation Roadmap; an Army that is more responsive, reliable, capable and committed to its mandate of serving the people and securing the land,” Detoyato said.

Meanwhile, over 2,000 employees of business process outsourcing firm Telus International Philippines took part in Brigada Eskwela yesterday morning in two public schools in Manila.

DepEd and Telus gathered the firm’s call center agents straight from their night shift to volunteer for the cleaning of the Isabelo de los Reyes Elementary School in Tondo and Cayetano Arellano Elementary School in Sta. Cruz, Manila.  – With Pia Lee-Brago