The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business
By Daryl Rose Virtudazo
The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) recently turned over newly-constructed two-story, eight-classroom school building to Palina East National High school (PENHS) in Urdaneta City, Pangasinan province.
It also awarded a one-storey, six-classroom structure to Palina West National High School (PWNHS).
With 14 additional classrooms, both schools will have spacious, decent and comfortable classrooms when they start offering Senior High School next school year.
PENHS Principal Senen Esmeralda said that “this is a great opportunity for us to offer Senior High School and we thank the Pagcor under the leadership of Pagcor chief Andrea Domingo for helping us attain one of our objectives.”
He shared that prior to the construction of the Pagcorschool building, he would sometimes see students going out of their makeshift classrooms as they could no longer bear the heat.
“Hindi sila makatiis sa init dahil napakababa ng bubong ng kanilang kwarto,” Esmeralda added.
But by the next school year, over 400 Grades 7 and 11 students of PENHS will use the new Pagcor classrooms.
Meanwhile, PWNHS expects a surge in enrollment next school year after it received six new Pagcor classrooms which can accommodate over 200 students. According to PWNHS school head Gemma Prestoza, the Pagcor school building that will be used by Grades 10 and 11 students is a far cry from their existing classrooms in terms of size. The new learning facility will also serve as library and information technology center where students can do research work.
In Buhangin, Davao City, students and teachers of Bernardo D. Carpio National High School (BDCNHS) felt extremely blessed when PAGCOR turned over the newly-constructed three-storey, 18-classroom building to the school.
BDCNHS Principal Zenaida Milando said many of their students who come from far-flung barangays enroll in their Senior High School program. “Most of them come from low-income families but many of them are very talented and driven. So it is just proper that we provide them with the best that they deserve,” she said.
The school however has its limitations. Because of the increase in enrollment due to the K-12 Program, they had to implement a shifting schedule to fit in all students.
“We only have 25 classrooms shared by over 2,000 students. The fact that many of these classrooms are no longer safe for our students worsens the problem. That is why I am very glad that Pagcor took notice of our school. This multi-storey building will help us respond well to the educational needs of our students,” Milando added.
To date, Pagcor has already built 482 classrooms in Pangasinan alone while 295 classrooms in 54 sites in the Davao Region had been completed.
Pagcor’s school building program has so far turned over a total of 6,921 classrooms in 53 sites nationwide while, 2,404 classrooms in 220 sites are under construction and 173 classrooms in 22 sites are under procurement.