Chairs for public schools from illegal logs

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor), along with other government agencies, recently donated nearly 4, 000 chairs made out of confiscated logs to schools in the Caraga region.

Pagcor, together with the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) and Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), delivered a total of 3,900 armchairs to public elementary and high schools in Butuan City.

Pagcor chairman and chief executive officer Cristino Naguiat, Jr. said the distribution of chairs was part of the government’s Pnoy Bayanihan project, which aims to help solve the backlog on school desks in public schools nationwide.

“Through this project, we are manufacturing thousands of school desks or armchairs using confiscated logs from illegal loggers,” Naguiat said.

Pagcor said public schools nationwide lack at least 2.5 million chairs.

He also said the state-run gaming agency has set aside P1 billion for the Matuwid na Daan sa Silid-Aralan Project which aims to build 1,000 classrooms nationwide.