Soldiers help prepare schools in remote areas

KIDAPAWAN CITY -- Soldiers from the Army's 57th and 62nd Infantry Battalions joined parents and teachers in landscaping, fixing drainage canals, and repainting desks and roofs of the school buildings in several remote areas in North Cotabato during the weeklong-Brigada Eskwela of the Department of Education (DepEd), which ended Saturday.

Lt. Col. Noel dela Cruz, acting battalion commander of the 57th IB, said soldiers were dispatched to hinterland barangays in the towns of Makilala, Magpet, Arakan, Antipas, and President Rojas in North Cotabato, areas considered as "influenced" by communist guerillas, to help prepare safe and convenient environment for school opening on Monday.

Dela Cruz said they supported the annual Brigada as part of their community participation so to win peoples' support in their peace-building activities.

During Brigada, the soldiers said, the spirit of Bayanihan is revived among Filipinos.

This, they said, was because private business and other individuals offered their services and resources for free during the Brigada.

The Brigada is a DepEd-initiated program meant to draw in partnership with other sectors to complement government's limited resources and efforts to make schools ready for the opening on June 4.