Bacolod school gets 10 new classrooms from Pagcor

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines — The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR) and the Department of Education (DepEd) turned over a ten-classroom, two-storey building to Handumanan Elementary School here last Jan. 24.

The ceremonial turnover of the P12.85-million learning facility was graced by Education Secretary Armin Luistro, Pagcor Director Jose Tanjuatco and assistant VP for community relations and services Henry Reyes.

The funding for said school is part of the P1-billion “Matuwid na Daan sa Silid-aralan” project of the two agencies which aims to eradicate the perennial problem of classrooms shortage by constructing over a thousand classrooms in public elementary and secondary schools all over the country. Pagcor provides the funds while the DepEd operates and maintains the classrooms.

Tanjuatco said the school building project is the biggest Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) project of Pagcor in the last 27 years. “Through prudent management of funds, we have earned hefty savings to support various nation-building programs such as the construction of thousands of classrooms nationwide. This is PAGCOR’s commitment to help solve the shortage of classrooms in the country,” he said.

As of Dec. 31, 2012, a total of 97 classrooms in 21 sites nationwide have already been completed. Meantime, 440 more classrooms in 71 locations are already under construction, while 254 classrooms in 42 locations are in the pipeline.