Arroyo tries painting school building, botches work

AFTER failing to paint a good scenario of a school opening with no classroom shortage, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo tried her hand at painting a school building but ended up messing the paint job.

Armed with a roller and some off-white paint, Arroyo worked the iron grills and part of a school building wall of the Jose Fabella Memorial School at the Welfareville Compound in Mandaluyong City last Friday.

She was accompanied by acting Education Secretary Fe Hidalgo, Presidential Management Staff (PMS) head Arthur Yap, Social Welfare Secretary Esperanza Cabral, Public Works Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane Jr., and National Capital Region Police Office Chief Vidal Querol.

But the President seems to have forgotten the rule in coloring class – stay within the lines – because she also painted white the red runner at the bottom of the building wall.

The paint job was the Cabinet’s contribution to “Brigada Eskwela”, a nationwide program where teachers, parents, and local officials undertake minor repairs or apply new coats of paint on school buildings the “bayanihan” way.

Arroyo erroneously referred to “Brigada Eskwela” in her speech as “Brigada Siyete”, a television program hosted by then opposition Senator Vicente Sotto III whom she dumped as her running mate in the run-up to the 1998 elections.

“Brigada Eskwela”, which kicked off last May 15, has mobilized 26,034 public schools in the Philippines covering almost 61 percent of public schools or more than two million volunteers. The movement has saved P172 million in terms of wages and garnered P415 million worth of donations in kind such as paint and cleaning tools.

In her speech, Arroyo said government is doing its best to fill up the classroom gap through the double-shift system and turn students into competitive workers by working on their Math, Science, and English skills.

She told parents and teachers that the prices of school supplies in Divisoria have not changed compared to last year, based on her inspection of some stalls in Metro Manila’s retail capital.

Arroyo said a 90-page notebook still costs P8.50 even if the prices of oil products have risen in the global market. “Children, welcome back to school on Monday,” she said.

She visited next the children of the Nayon ng Kabataan and gifted them with rubber shoes and footballs that were donated by the Philippine Football Foundation.

But before proceeding to Nayon ng Kabataan, Arroyo had herself ambush interviewed by a reporter from IBC-13, where she proclaimed that Mandaluyong City has no shortage of classrooms and other facilities. She said the local government is building 30 classrooms to further decongest any overcrowded classroom.

When the interview ended, she told the reporter of the government-sequestered channel: “Ipamigay mo iyan sa iba (share that to others).”

Meanwhile, after a busy morning checking school supplies at Divisoria and helping repaint a school in Mandaluyong with the President, Hidalgo spent quality time with Christina “Tinay” Bugayong buying school supplies at a mall near the DepEd Central Office in Pasig City.

“I promised Tinay I’d provide school supplies for her as my way of appreciating her good deed when she returned a large sum of money to its owner a few months back. Tinay is our model for honesty and integrity and we hope that she continues to communicate this message to her fellow youth through her good deeds,” said Hidalgo.

Tinay will be in 1st year high school in the coming school year and will study at STI High School in Quezon City where she got a scholarship. Tinay thanked Hidalgo for her generosity.

Dr. Hidalgo was pleased to find out that there was no school supplies price hike at the mall. “It’s good to know that notebooks here sell for as low as P8 each. I’m sure the President will be happy to know about this,” she said.

Hidalgo said that she expects a smooth school opening on Monday as government has been working on ensuring this.

“Our partner government agencies have assured the President during our command conference yesterday (Thursday) of their preparations for school opening. School supplies prices remain stable, LTFRB (Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board) is working on an acceptable student’s fare discount, PNP is deploying 5,000 to 6,000 policemen and volunteers, DPWH (Department of Public Works and Highways) is working on earthquake-prone school-buildings and the NDCC (National Disaster Coordinating Council) is also preparing for possible calamities,. This morning the President and the Cabinet had a Brigada Eskwela at a school in Mandaluyong. We all have been working together for school opening,” Hidalgo said.

“Our information and action center at the central office has received a total of 414 complaints and queries as of lunch time today. Ninety percent of these have been responded to and 10 percent are being followed-up or have been forwarded to concerned offices. We will continue responding to questions and complaints especially next week when schools open. While we recognize that there will still be problems when school opens, we’ve been doing everything we can to have a smooth opening of classes,” said Hidalgo.

When asked about the issue of her being scolded by President Arroyo, Hidalgo said, “that’s over. That issue shouldn’t be in the way of school opening.”

“Let’s focus our attention on school opening, I’m calling on all parents and school officials to make sure that our children go to school on Monday and they do so safely and orderly,” Dr. Hidalgo added. (JMR with DepEd PR/Sunnex)