OFWs helped build 400 classrooms, says DoLE exec

OFWs helped build 400 classrooms, says DoLE exec

Mar 22, 2006
Updated 01:45pm (Mla time)
Veronica Uy
INQ7.net

OVERSEAS Filipino workers and OFW organizations through their donations have helped build almost 400 classrooms, the target of a government project intended to alleviate a shortage in the country, the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) said Wednesday.

A total of 312 CGMA classrooms have been finished, another 62 are in various stages of construction, seven are undergoing school area identification, and 19 are undergoing site validation and documentation prior to construction, said Danilo Cruz, undersecretary for employment and head of the DoLE's Classroom Galing sa Mamamayan Abroad (Classrooms from OFWs, CGMA) program.

In his report to DoLE Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas, Cruz said six new classrooms were inaugurated and turned over to Paggulayan Elementary School in Pinamalayan, Oriental Mindoro province; Francisco Benitez Elementary School in Tondo, Manila; and Tagulod High School in Candaba East, Pampanga province. Cruz also acknowledged some of the donors: Nelida B. Atalig; Visayas Mindanao Association of the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI); Filipino Pop Music Club (through E-Money Plus Inc.); Filipino Tenpin Bowlers -- Eastern Region or Filbowlers (Glicerio Tuazon); Upsilon Sigma Phi Fraternity, Northeast USA (Philippine Consulate General in New York);

Society of Performing Arts-Talents Guild; Merlita Comia through Feed the Hungry Foundation in cooperation with the Commission on Filipinos Overseas; Filipino Computer Club-Dubai; Computer Aided Design and Drafting Group; and the Filipino Association for Computer Excellence. Cruz said the program was a continuing global initiative of the DoLE in collaboration with the Departments of Education (DepEd), Foreign Affairs (DFA), and the Federation of Filipino Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry Inc. (FFCCCII). "The CGMA classrooms donated by overseas Filipino communities, overseas Filipino workers and employers of OFWs, individual, corporate, and other magnanimous donors here and abroad are now benefiting thousands of elementary and high school students nationwide," he said. Nationwide, the highest number of CGMA classrooms constructed and turned over to schools were in Region 4-A (Calabarzon) with 72, followed by Region 3 (Central Luzon) with 56, Region 12 (Soccsksargen) with 33, Region 6 (Western Visayas) with 30, Metro Manila with 20, and Region 7 (Central Visayas) with 16. In the other regions, the following number of classrooms have also been completed and turned over to schools: 14 in Region 1 (Ilocos); 12 in Caraga Region; 12 in Region 10 (Northern Mindanao); 10 in Region 5 (Bicol); 10 in Region 2 (Cagayan Valley); eight in Region 8 (Eastern Visayas);

Six in Region 4-B (MIMAROPA); five in Region 9 (Zamboanga Peninsula); four in Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR); two in Region 11 (Davao Region); and another two in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.