Photo By Cashmere He | Deputy commander of the Combined Joint Civil-Military Operations Task Force U.S. Army...... read more read more
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PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, Republic of the Philippines - Senior leaders and the participants of the of Exercise Balikatan 2012’s engineering civic assistance project held a dedication ceremony to hand over newly-built classrooms on April 23, built at the Tagbarungis Elementary School and Inagawan National High School, located in Barangay Inagawan.
The dedication ceremony was attended by more than 250 people that included teachers, parents, students, Philippine and U.S. military personnel, local government officials and leaders of the community.
BK12, in addition to the combined combat exercises, also has series of humanitarian civic assistance projects to improve Philippine-U.S. military interoperability. BK12 does this by enhancing military-to-military relations and allowing the service members from the two partner nations to get to know each other through these projects, while sharing knowledge.
Armed Forces of the Philippine Western Command, commanding general, Lt. Gen. Juancho Sabban emphasized the importance of the community responding to BK12's collaborative effort in fulfilling the aspirations of the citizens of Palawan towards a prominent future in education.
Believing in the “teamwork approach” Sabban said, “with the assistance of our American friends, we have come together because your welfare has always been our top priority, and is one to which the military has devoted time and energy. Giving our children education is like giving them life again.”
The Philippine-U.S. military have a longstanding relationship that has contributes to regional security and stability through deep-rooted cooperation. This cooperation is embodied in the spirit of Balikatan; a spirit that the Philippine and U.S. military engineers cultivated during this Balikatan.
“It’s been a great mission and a great experience partnering with our Armed Forces of the Philippines counterparts on this school building project. We definitely helped an area with the need,” said U.S. Army Capt. Orlando N. Craig, construction site officer in charge, 643rd Vertical Construction Company, 84th Engineer Battalion, 130th Engineer Brigade, 8th Theater Sustainment Command, based at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii.
Craig stressed that BK12 was instrumental in providing a great opportunity to build good relations between the Philippine-U.S. nations adding, “dedicating these two schools will go a long way to increase the educational capacity of this area. The impact on the children will be immeasurable and none of us will ever forget what we’ve accomplished here.”
The two newly-constructed school buildings at Inagawan, have two classrooms each, as well as a new septic system, water catchment system and comfort room, the Philippine name for a restroom. The ENCAPs for BK12 constructed five school buildings throughout four rural barangays near Puerto Princesa and the projects began on March 12, 2012.
As BK12, in its 28th iteration, comes to a close Sabban acknowledged that though there are still a variety of development challenges, “we are very certain that we can brave the odds with everyone’s continued cooperation.”
“Surely nothing can be more rewarding than knowing that our efforts are gaining positive response from the [community],” Sabban said. “May you take care of these projects and utilize them as they are aimed to be.”
| Date Taken: | 04.23.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 04.25.2012 05:02 |
| Story ID: | 87293 |
| Location: | PUERTO PRINCESA, PALAWAN, PH |
| Web Views: | 234 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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