PACANGEL-Philippines cements partnerships, provides infrastructure for schools, students

  • Published
  • By Capt. Mark Lazane
  • Pacific Air Force Public Affairs
DAO, Philippines --  Dezyl Tagaan is a precocious 11-year-old girl in Dao. Tall for her age, she enjoys dancing and being with her friends. She lives with her aunt and her three older cousins in a rudimentary home near Dao Elementary School, where she attends the sixth grade and is the student body president.

Dao Elementary School is made up of a group of plaster-based schoolhouses. The classrooms have metal tin roofs, most of which has been ravaged by the effects of high humidity and a robust rainy season, creating pockets of rust and corrosion that stops neither rain nor critters from wreaking havoc on the building.

Nearly two years after a 7.2 magnitude earthquake, the school stands, but foundational cracks are apparent in the various structures.

"I enjoy going to school here, because I have many friends and it is a good environment," Tagaan said. "This school is great, because it is near my house. It has good teachers, and it is a great place to be."

On this day, Tagaan is dressed in red from head to toe, making her more visible to her classmates as she leads them in a traditional Filipino dance routine they are practicing on one of their recreational breaks.

In the future, she wants to be an engineer.

In the present, she knows that to fulfill her dream, she needs to study hard, listen to her teachers and do all she can to advance in her studies.

In this remote part of the Philippines, those objectives are often easier said than done.

Within the aging infrastructure, 40 to 50 students fill a classroom at any given time, often utilizing a single light bulb hung precariously overhead with carpenter staples. Western comforts such as ceiling fans and air conditioning are non-existent. Instead, teachers rely on slatted windows set behind rusty bars to provide relief from the oppressively hot, humid conditions in order to create an environment conducive to instruction.

The school teaches the children of 9,000 residents of Dao, a barangay, or neighborhood, that rests northwest of Tagbiliran, Philippines, the provincial capital.

The students attend school from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., taking breaks in the day to eat, have recreation and socialize with their peers. They meet in classrooms, in tents, under tarps or under the sun-dripped (or, during the summer, the rain-soaked) sky, almost always with smiling faces and eager countenances.

All instruction is done under the watchful eye of Dao Elementary's officer in charge principal Concepcion Gallentes.

"Some parts of the school are really suffering, things are out of place, especially the water leaks in the roof," Gallentes said. "The lack of lighting in the facilities is a big concern, because they have only one or two lights in the whole room by which to read and take their lessons."

According to Gallentes, the students will learn in any environment, because they are humble, they listen and are engaged in their studies.

However, thanks to a partnership program between the U.S. and its Indo-Asia-Pacific allies, Tagaan and 920 of her schoolmates are better prepared to achieve their educational goals today than they were yesterday after completion of a schoolhouse renovation, a project undertaken as part of Pacific Angel-Philippines.

PACANGEL-Philippines provides an opportunity to establish partnerships and capacity building that takes place between U.S. service members and their host country, along with five other partner nations and Philippine non-governmental organizations.

The capacity building and civil military projects take place in municipalities around Bohol Province and involve members of the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Navy along with service members from the Philippines, Australia, Indonesia, Timor Leste and Papua New Guinea.

Under the Pacific Angel construct, the U.S. and its partners in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region team up to provide engineering, medical and subject-matter expert support to various countries within U.S. Pacific Command's area of responsibility.

Over a six-day period, a total of six provincial schools received some form of U.S. engineering assistance, from building sidewalks and painting infrastructure, to complete room remodels and new electrical systems, as they have in Dao.

"In just a couple of days, the engineers provided something that would have taken a year to complete," Gallentes said. "If we can even get the funding, we would've had to repair the classrooms piece by piece, and it would have taken a lot longer, if it got finished at all.

The completed classrooms at Dao Elementary directly affect the school experience of 150 students who will reside in the three rooms each day.

However, the knowledge that military officials from around the world came to this little school, worked together to improve it and left behind a beautiful building makes the entire event beneficial to all the students.

Additionally, the connections built between friendly militaries help cement partnerships across the region.

"It makes me feel really good to be helping the country out, but it is a great opportunity to work with all the other branches — not only branches of the United States, but with all these other countries," said U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Andrea White, a member of the 84th Engineer Battalion, 130th Engineer Brigade, Schofield Barracks, Hawaii. "I think it's great. It shows we can work together during a nice, peaceful time; and if we can work together during a nice, peaceful time, it gives us practice if something worse comes along like an earthquake, or God forbid, some manmade problem. If we've already had some experience working with them, it makes the entire process that much [smoother] if we are already familiar with each other."

That sentiment is felt by non-U.S. team members as well.

"Through this engagement, we are learning from each other," said Philippine Air Force Airman 1st Class Mark Ryan Perez, a plumber, painter and masonry worker. "That interaction is important, because we will exchange some knowledge, exchange some language and exchange some skills that will be used for the benefit of many countries."

Pacific Angel is much more than an engineering project, however.

On the day Tagaan was instructing fellow students in dance techniques, subject-matter expert exchanges were taking place throughout the province, including a Health Services Outreach at a local municipal gym, where approximately 3,000 patients received critical medical, dental, optometric and physical therapy services, as well as crucial medications at the pharmacy organized for this exercise.

Over at Dao, though, the focus was on safely and rapidly returning the remodeled room to the school officials.

"To be able to give these kids a good room is important because they need a nice place for their teaching, because education is good for them," Perez said. "When they have a nice room, they study harder. Many of these kids have been receiving their schooling outside, under a tree, but they are much more comfortable inside the room, so it is important for their future."

Perez should know. As a youth growing up in the outskirts of Manila, U.S.-led military volunteers participating in Exercise Balikatan came to his elementary school and refurbished several buildings.

"When the workers came to my school many years ago, I was very happy," Perez said. "It helped me get a better education, and now I am able to give back to others on the same type of mission. When students say thank you, it makes me happy, and I know this project will ultimately help give students at this school the tools to help their family get out of poverty."

One constant throughout the project is the overwhelming graciousness of their hosts, said White.

"There has been an extremely warm welcome from everyone," she said. "They are always so happy to see you, always greeting you with a smile, saying 'good morning' as soon as they see you. It's nice to see they appreciate it."

"This project has been amazing because it provides a more comfortable environment," Gallentes, the principal, said. "A comfortable environment is really conducive to learning, because when the children are comfortable, they will learn easily, and this project directly benefits the children, and the children are the reason we are all here in the first place."

Even at a young age, Tagaan recognizes the enormous impact this project will have on the school population.

"Education means a lot to me because it gives anyone the chance to progress and learn values which will help them to become better citizens," Tagaan said. "This project helps me and my classmates because it creates an environment where every person can succeed because they have the necessary tools. It is really good to see these engineers bring their world-class skills to my school and help us."