Pagcor recycles casino tools for schools

Grade six pupils using Pagcor’s fabricated desks donated to Governor D.M. Camerino Elementary School in Imus, Cavite. (Contributed Photo)

MANILA, Philippines – By recycling old slot machine stands, the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor) was able to donate a total of 1,160 desks to public schools.

Maricar Bautista, Pagcor’s assistant vice president for corporate communications, said they have been donating fabricated desks since 2010 to help ease classroom furniture shortage in public schools.

“We collect the old wooden stands of our slot machines from our Casino Filipino branches in Metro Manila and they are brought to Pagcor’s Imus warehouse in Cavite for fabrication,” Bautista said in a statement Thursday.

She said the state-run gaming firm was perhaps the only casino operator in the world that utilizes discarded parts from old slot machine stands to produce functional school desks.

“This is another testament to Filipino ingenuity. As we often say, only in the Philippines can we find such a unique idea,” Bautista said.

To date, Pagcor said it has distributed 1,160 school desks made out of old slot machine stands to 19 state-subsidized schools.

Pagcor said the two- or three-seater fabricated desks cost about P600 each, much  cheaper compared to commercially-sold school chairs, which  range from P2,000 to P2,500 per unit.

Teachers from beneficiary schools said the fabricated desks, which are sturdier and stable, fared better than their old plastic furniture.

“May pagkakataon kasi na may isang batang nadisgrasya nang tumuntong sa plastic chair kaya’t naisip kong mas maganda kung ang upuan nila eh yung matibay at hindi basta-basta mahahatak,”” Pasay City day care worker Nida Zablan said, thanking Pagcor for the desks.

(There was an instance when a child was injured after standing on a plastic chair so I thought it would be better if their chair was sturdy and not easily pulled or moved)

Among the recent recipients of Pagcor’s fabricated desks were Benito Villar Elementary School in Oriental Mindoro, Aguinaldo Elementary School and Gov. D.M. Camerino Elementary School in Cavite.