Public Elementary School in Quezon City receives new armchairs from "P-Noy Bayanihan"
Friday | August 30, 2013 | 12:43 PM
STUDENTS of the San Antonio Elementary School in Quezon City no longer have to sit on dilapidated chairs during their classes after they received 500 new armchairs from the “P-Noy Bayanihan” project.
PAGCOR, DepEd, DENR and TESDA recently donated 500 brand new armchairs to the San Antonio Elementary School in Quezon City to help address the school’s urgent need for additional school desks. Present during the turnover last August 27, 2013 were (from left) DepEd Secretary Armin Luistro, DENR Undersecretary for Field Operations Demetrio Ignacio, Jr., PAGCOR’s Assistant VP for Community Relations and Services Henry Reyes, TESDA Director General Joel Villanueva, Schools Division Superintendent Corazon Rubio, Public School District Supervisor Juan Obierna, and school Principal Wilma Manio.
School Principal Wilma Manio said their school is in dire need of chairs after hundreds of their school desks were damaged by the heavy flooding brought by Habagat in August 2012. “That time, our school was declared as one of the 23 flood-prone public learning institutions in Quezon City. Waist-high water inundated some of our classrooms. The flood lasted for a week and damaged our facilities including about 200 armchairs,” Manio added.
According to Manio, they still make use of the damaged desks due to their school’s severe lack of armchairs. “Yun nga lang, kalimitan sa mga estudyante namin nagkakaroon ng kalawang yung uniform kapag umuupo sila dun sa mga armchairs na sira-sira na. Yung mga damit nila nasisira din o napupunit,” she cited.
Manio expressed her heartfelt gratitude that San Antonio Elementary School was chosen as a beneficiary of the P-Noy Bayanihan project. “Our school caters to 3,509 pupils enrolled in Special Education (SpEd) and Kinder to Grade Six. Our students reside in seven barangays near our school,” she said.
“We are very thankful for the brand new armchairs donated by the four agencies – PAGCOR, DepEd, TESDA and DENR, because these will greatly help our students. Dito sa mga bago nilang armchairs, mas gaganahan silang mag-aral. Higit sa lahat, malaking tulong ito para lalong mapaganda ang eskwelahan namin. Makakatulong din ito para lalo pang mas mapataas ang quality ng education sa public schools na katulad ng aming eskwelahan,” Manio added.
The P-Noy Bayanihan - launched in March 2011 - is a collaborative undertaking of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR), Department of Education (DepEd), Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) and Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR). It aims to help eradicate the backlog of school chairs and furniture in public schools nationwide by manufacturing thousands of armchairs from illegal logs confiscated by the DENR. The P-Noy Bayanihan also provides training and livelihood opportunities to communities where production sites are located.
San Antonio Elementary School’s 200 school desks that were severely damaged by the “Habagat” flooding in 2012 had been replaced. About 500 brand new armchairs were turned over to the school, courtesy of the Pnoy Bayanihan Project of PAGCOR, DepEd, DENR and TESDA.
The turnover of brand new armchairs to San Antonio Elementary School took place on August 27, 2013. The event was graced by DepEd Secretary Armin Luistro, TESDA Director General Joel Villanueva, DENR Undersecretary for Field Operations Demetrio Ignacio, Jr. and Henry Reyes, PAGCOR’s Assistant VP for Community Relations and Services.
In his speech during the turnover ceremony, DepEd Secretary Luistro lauded their partner agencies for their full support to DepEd in addressing the problem through the P-Noy Bayanihan project. He also commended PAGCOR for its unwavering support to the Education sector.
“Nagpapasalamat kami kay PAGCOR Chairman Cristino Naguiat. Jr. dahil sa walang sawang suporta ng ahensya sa amin. Kami ay tuwang-tuwa dahil pinopondahan ng PAGCOR ang proyektong tulad ng P-Noy Bayanihan para sa ikauunlad ng mga bata,” Luistro said.PAGCOR allocated P100 million for the project. Part of the amount was used to retrofit the TESDA production sites.
On the other hand, TESDA Director General Villanueva noted that the illegal logs confiscated by the DENR are now being put to good use. “Dati, ang nakumpiskang kahoy ng DENR ay ninanakaw lamang. Ngayon, ito ay napupunta na sa mabuti. We at TESDA convert the confiscated illegal logs into armchairs. Our personnel are being trained on how to manufacture the chairs and they also get allowance from PAGCOR,” Villanueva explained.
“Kung noon, ang tawag sa silya ay ‘salumpuwet’, ito ngayon ay upuan na sumasalo ng pangarap ng mga bata. At kami na mga ahensyang bumubuo sa P-Noy Bayanihan - ang PAGCOR, DepEd, DENR at TESDA - ay kasama ng mga bata na tuparin ang kanilang mga pangarap,” Villanueva added.
As of July 31, 2013, a total of 36,520 armchairs have been produced at the “P-Noy Bayanihan” production site in Agusan del Sur School of Arts and Trade in Mindanao alone. Of this number, 24,363 armchairs have been delivered to DepEd schools in the CARAGA Region. More units are awaiting schedule of delivery while over 12,000 units are for varnishing. Once the varnishing is completed, the armchairs will then be distributed to CARAGA public schools.
Meanwhile, a total of 5,000 units have been fabricated at the P-Noy Bayanihan’s production site in NCR. Nine Hundred Sixty (960) units are for varnishing while 4,040 units are scheduled for delivery in selected public schools in Metro Manila.