The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has signed an agreement with the Eastern Mindanao Command (EASTMINCOM) of the Philippine Army for the construction of classrooms for Lumad children in Davao City.
The project will initially be implemented in seven sites in Barangay Sto. Niño, Talaingod in Davao del Norte which is a Geographically Isolated and Disadvantaged Area (GIDA).
Brigadier General Dionisio Baudin, commander of the 52nd Engineering Brigade, represented the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Eastern Mindanao Command. They promised to enforce security, technical assistance, limited labor, and supervision until the project’s completion.
The Lumad are non-Muslim indigenous people in southern Philippines.
Baudin reiterated that the military is sincere in implementing the project for the Indigenous People (IP) and the youth.
“The real job is after the signing of this agreement. We assure everyone that we are sincere and will carry out the task of building these classrooms for our IP children and youth,” he said in a statement on Thursday.
The project is under a government program called DSWD Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery Services, which was implemented to support communities in “targeted poor and disaster-affected municipalities.”
Aside from the DSWD, the Philippine Army also partnered with the local government of the municipality of Talaingod.
Meanwhile, the DSWD, the Municipal Tribal Council, the local government of Talaingod, and other concerned villages will assist in the procurement of materials and in monitoring cultural sensitivity and community participation in the project.
Rebecca Santamaria, DSWD Region XI Assistant Regional Director for Administration, acknowledged the Army engineers’ role in providing classrooms for the Lumad children.
“We thank our Army engineers for helping us provide our Lumad children in remote communities with access to basic social services,” Santamaria said. /ee
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