COTABATO CITY, Nov. 24 (PNA) -– More public school buildings are seen to rise in four provinces and five cities in Region 12 after the Australian government through the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) granted Php33.05 million to finance the construction of school buildings, a ranking regional official Monday said.
Bai Zorahayda T. Taha, Department of Social Welfare and Development-12 (DSWD-12) regional director, said that the implementation of the various projects is of great help to various beneficiary villages where school buildings are considered to be the most pressing needs.
“The grant amount covers 28 school building projects, with either two or three classrooms each and a total four day care centers based on the proposed projects approved,” Taha said.
“This is part of the government efforts in response to the perennial problems of classroom shortage and will serve as a supply side of the agency to Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program in various villages, especially in the remote areas of the region,” Taha further said.
According to Taha, among the municipalities that will benefit from the projects are Maasim, Kiamba, Maitum and Malapatan in Sarangani Province, Arakan and President Roxas in North Cotabato, Senator Ninoy Aquino in Sultan Kudarat and T’boli in South Cotabato.
Meanwhile, Jeffrey Gacuya, in charge of the municipal monitoring for the projects, said that some of these villages have already started the construction while others are still in the pre-construction period.
Prior to this, according to Gacuya, the agency has already completed six school buildings and two day care centers with the total project cost of Php9.61 million, financed also by the Australian government.
Among the villages now benefiting from the completed projects are Alibayaon, Amabel, Bantac, Imamaling, Kausawagan and Owas in Magpet North Cotabato, Lamsalome in T’boli, South Cotabato and Kolambog in Isulan, Sultan Kudarat.
The grant was part of the partnership between the agency and the Australian government through the Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services-National Community-Driven Development Program (KALAHI CIDSS-NCDDP) of the agency.
Kalahi-CIDSS-NCDDP is a national expansion of the community-driven development (CDD) strategy which aims to empower communities to achieve improved access to services and to participate in more inclusive local planning, budgeting, and implementation.
The program is also one of the supports for post-disaster response and development to typhoon Yolanda-affected areas in the country.
Poor communities and conflict zones in the region have already benefited from KALAHI-CIDSS-NCDDP program in the past few years. (PNA)