25¢ coins can build classrooms

MANILA, Philippines—Yes, the lowly 25-centavo coin can build classrooms.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) showed how when it donated the proceeds from its Guinness World Record-breaking longest line of coins stint last year to build a two-classroom school building in Palawan province.

As they promised last year, representatives of the BSP Officers Club (BSPOC), BSP Employees Association and the Kabayanihan Foundation  on Friday turned over P600,000 to the Department of Education (DepEd).

The amount will cover the the cost of putting up a one-story two-classroom school building in Virgilio Magbanua Elementary School in Puerto Princesa, Palawan.

“It shows that the 25-centavo coin which we just discard can build a classroom,” BSPOC president Dr. Greg Suarez II said during the signing of a memorandum of agreement at the DepEd main office in Pasig City.

“We are putting together a school from barya (loose change),” said Education Secretary Armin Luistro.

Luistro was so pleased with the novel fund-raising drive that he asked the help of the BSP representatives’ in drafting the mechanics for a similar DepEd campaign.