By Alexander Lopez
BUTUAN CITY – Member of the House Committee on Basic Education and Culture, Agusan del Norte 2nd District Rep. Dale Corvera, commended President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. for authorizing the allocation of PHP1.34 billion for the rehabilitation of heritage schools across the nation.
In a statement released on Wednesday, Corvera highlighted the necessity of financial assistance for the restoration of over 2,000 heritage school buildings nationwide.
“Regrettably, many of these school structures, which are meant to be preserved as part of our cultural heritage, have deteriorated or, even worse, fallen into disuse,” he remarked.
Corvera said the approved budget for this year is enough to restore around 600 classrooms of more than 80 heritage schools in the country.
Among the known heritage schools, he said, are the Gabaldon Schoolhouses, built between 1907 and 1946 and named after the late lawmaker Isauro Gabaldon, the author of the Gabaldon Act of 1907.
The law, passed by the Philippine Assembly in 1907, provided PHP1 million to establish modern public school buildings throughout the country from 1908 to 1915.
“I hope that this will be the beginning of a continuing program of restoring these buildings as part of our cultural conservation efforts and to help address the need for more classrooms,” Corvera said.
The move of President Marcos, he said, will help instill a love for culture among the country’s learners.
“At least, through this approval of the release of funding by the President, we will keep our youth in touch with our past as a nation,” Corvera said. (PNA)
