EDC builds new classrooms, trains Yolanda victims in Leyte

MANILA, Philippines - Students in Ormoc City and Kananga, Leyte recently returned to school in newly built classrooms.

The Milagro Elementary School in Kananga and Ormoc City National High School are among the recipients of sturdy school buildings built through the combined efforts of the local government units and the Lopez Group led by Energy Development Corp. (EDC) and ABS-CBN Sagip Kapamilya.

Fourteen classrooms in Milagro Elementary School were completed on June 2. The next batch of 50 classrooms will begin construction in August.

Last November, scores of school buildings were destroyed by Typhoon Yolanda, the strongest howler to make landfall in history.

Chona Corasa, principal of Milagro Elementary School, said she and the parents are relieved that children are attending school in classrooms conducive to learning.    

Imelda Amodia, principal of Ormoc City National High School, agreed. “The roofs of our classrooms were blown away. There was so much rebuilding that we had to do. It may take years for us to recover from Typhoon Yolanda’s devastation but our students have to continue with their education. We would want our future generation to be able to rise above the storm.  I guess this is how we start to do that,” she said.

The classrooms, designed by EDC’s architectural partner W.V. Coscolluela Associates to be typhoon-resistant, will be furnished with electric fans and toilet facilities.

EDC also continues to rebuild the lives of Yolanda survivors through livelihood training. It has completed the restoration of the Kananga-EDC Institute of Technology (KEITECH), which was heavily damaged by the typhoon, too.

Aligned with the Leyte rehabilitation program of the Office of the Presidential Assistant for Reconstruction and Rehabilitation, KEITECH is set to produce in two years 1,000 trained workers ready for employment with various local contractors in rebuilding devastated areas in the province.

KEITECH also introduced a new curriculum, cutting down the six-month training program to only three months for carpentry, plumbing and electrical wiring courses. This pilot curriculum has 112 trainees from Ormoc and Kananga.