RP-US, Australian troops in Balikatan 2015 assure ‘climate change resilient’ classrooms in Palawan

From the Philippine News Agency (Apr 21): RP-US, Australian troops in Balikatan 2015 assure ‘climate change resilient’ classrooms in Palawan

Classroom buildings being constructed jointly by RP-US and Aussie troops underneath the shoulder-to-shoulder Balikatan 2015 bilateral exercise are all “climate change resilient.”

This was assured both by Lieutenant Commander Mike Guzzi, the current operations officer for the 30th Naval Construction Regiment (NCR) of the Civil Engineer Corps (CEC), United States Navy (USN), and Lt. Col. Noel dela Cruz, group commander of the 6th Civil Relations Group (CRG), Civil Relations Services (CRS) of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) during Monday’s press conference at the Western Command (WESCOM) that officially opened the Balikatan’s engineering civic action program (ENCAP) activities in Puerto Princesa.

Dela Cruz and Guzzi are this year’s shoulder-to-shoulder partners in ensuring that the ENCAP classroom buildings being constructed in three sites in this capital city, are carried out cooperatively and collaboratively to withstand any harsh effects due to climate change.

The school buildings are under construction in barangays San Rafael, Sta. Lourdes, and Cabayugan.

“These are very structurally sound school buildings, the design of which was provided to us by the DepEd (Department of Education). They have beams and columns that are properly clipped affixed together and can support the addition of second floors, as well as withstand stresses that might be brought in by climate change,” said Guzzi during Monday’s press conference that officially opened the 31st iteration of Balikatan this year in Palawan.

He added that they will also have open sockets underneath roofs that would consent air to flow and circulate within the classroom buildings for them not to be too warm for the students as time approaches summer.

Additionally, Brig. Gen. Guillermo Molina, deputy commander for administration and logistics of the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ (AFP) Western Command (WESCOM), supplied that in constructing the classroom buildings, the environmental conditions in the communities were carefully considered.

He explained this means their ENCAP partnership ensured that the classroom buildings will not be set up in areas, where significant risks can happen due to changes in weather patterns.

“When it comes to the environmental aspect; you can see that they far exceed our provisions for safety. You can see the beams and columns, they have the right dimensions, they can endure, and can last up to hundred years,” the top-ranking military official said.

Each school building – two in San Rafael, one in Sta. Lourdes, and another in Cabayugan – has two classrooms that can accommodate 40-50 pupils, according to Dela Cruz of the 6th CRG.

“At the end of the day, it will not only all accommodate around 400; it will benefit whoever wants to use the classrooms,” he said.

Aside from the classroom buildings, Dela Cruz said there might also be “discretionary projects” that they might do, such as school fences, basketball courts, pathway cementing, and others.

He explained that this is to avoid wasting excesses in supplies that are originally for the schools, like cements and steel bars.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid=&nid=2&rid=754749