Pagcor, Travellers donate 2 public school buildings

MANILA, Philippines - Thousands of students in two densely populated public schools in Paranaque and Pasay City have something exciting to look forward to when classes open next month. The days when they have to hold classes in gymnasiums, libraries and makeshift classrooms are finally over.

Recently, the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR) and Travellers International (operator of Resorts World Manila) turned over a four-story, 24-classroom building each to Pasay City East High School and Tambo Elementary School in Paranaque City. A school building costs over P53 million, with ten comfort rooms, two of which are designed for people with disability (PWDs).

The school building is furnished with 1,200 brand new chairs, at 50 chairs per classroom. The chairs are products of the Pinoy Bayanihan project. Under this program, confiscated illegal logs are converted into school desks and donated to public schools nationwide. The Pinoy Bayanihan was launched in March 2011 by PAGCOR and its partner agencies namely the Department of Education (DepEd), the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) and Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR). PAGCOR allocated an initial funding of P100 million for the Pinoy Bayanihan Project.

During the turn-over of the new learning facilities in both public schools, PAGCOR Chairman and CEO Cristino Naguiat Jr. reiterated the state-owned gaming firm’s commitment in helping uplift the quality of education in the country through the “Matuwid na Daan sa Silid-Aralan Project”.

Naguiat explained that apart from PAGCOR’s P5 billion funding for the construction of roughly 5,000 classrooms in public schools nationwide, the agency encouraged its gaming proponents like the Travellers International Hotel Group to set aside part of their gaming revenues for the school building project.

“By enjoining them to take part in these undertakings, we enable the licensees to participate in life-changing projects,” the PAGCOR chief said.

Sen. Sonny Angara, chair of the Senate committee on games, amusement and sports, graced the turn-over ceremonies in both schools. He emphasized the importance of public-private partnerships in addressing the various concerns of the education sector. “I’ve been a congressman for nine years and I know how hard it is for the national government to address all classroom shortages. With the help of Pagcor and the private sector, there is now a good system so that today’s generation can be given quality education.”

Stephen Reilley, chief operating officer of the Travellers International Hotel Group, re-affirmed their support to PAGCOR’s school building project. “What we have today is a staging ground for your children to learn and excel. We will continue to give back and help improve the community,” he noted. 

According to Lourdes Garido, principal of Pasay City East High School, the new school building will greatly help decongest the number of students in a classroom. “Last school year, we have around 4,000 students. To accommodate them we used the stage and gymnasium as classroom,” she said.

Local officials of Pasay and Paranaque City are also grateful to PAGCOR and Travellers International for their generosity.

Meanwhile, Paranaque City Mayor Edwin Olivarez recognized the imminent need for new school buildings in preparation for the full implementation of the K to 12 program. “Come 2016, we will need additional classrooms and teachers for the additional level of the K-12 program. It’s really a good thing that the national government through Pagcor and non-government agencies like Travellers International are helping. We have close to 100,000 students in Paranaque City. Our mission is to put in one shift all of our campuses,” he added.