PROCOR assures safety of 430K students expected on June 3

June 1, 2019 Metro BLISTT

BAGUIO CITY – Almost half a million students are expected to troop to public and private elementary and high schools in the Cordillera region on June 3 as the Department of Education (DepEd) officially opens School Year (SY) 2019-2020.

Police Cordillera Regional Office (PROCOR) chief Israel Ephraim Dickson said 3,700 policemen and 1,300 “force multipliers” will be deployed in schools and other strategic areas region wide to ensure the safety of students in the schools as well as the public.

In a special Kapihan media forum tackling inter-agency convergence Oplan Balik Eskwela led by Dickson on Friday, he said he has given orders to all police commanders in the region to strictly abide by the operational guidelines for “Ligtas Balik Eskwela 2019” and to closely coordinate with local government units (LGUs) and other government agencies in enforcing traffic rules and regulations.

He stressed that he has given orders to his field commanders to strictly enforce the law on “overloading” against public utilities.

Department of Education-Cordillera (DepEd-CAR) information officer Georaloy Palao-ay reported that 430,680 elementary and high school students are expected to go to public and private schools based on the results of the registration this year: 224,327 in the elementary public school; 131,288 public high school; 29,328 elementary private school; and 45,737 private high school or a total of 430,680.

Palao-ay said that the number would still increase to accommodate late enrollees. Palao-ay reported that a total of P59 million worth of materials were donated for the Brigada Eskwela program region wide.

He added that a total of 100,000 volunteers from various sectors including parents participated in the program which aimed to bring together all education stakeholders to participate and contribute their time, effort, and resources to prepare public schools for the opening of classes.

In a related development, Engineer Rex Oya-oy of the Department of Public Works and Highways- Cordillera (DPWH-CAR) said that out of the 127 school building projects (CY 2018) amounting to P1.8 billion, 54 had already been completed.

The agency has also completed two school building projects (Itogon) valued at almost P28 million, according to a report submitted to Benguet 1st Engineering District head Ireneo Gallato by monitoring chief Marjory Banao.

Meanwhile, lawyer Laird Dionel Urbanozo of the Department of Transportation (DOTr-CAR), said the Land Transportation Office (LTO) and the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) will also assist other enforcers in conducting inspection to ensure that all public conveyances are road worthy. Urbanozo added that DOTr is in the process of discussing with DepEd for the inclusion of driving in the school curricula.

For his part, Dr. Alexei Marrero of the Department of Health-CAR, said it will sustain its regular inspections to schools to ensure the health and safety of students.

Marrero added they will conduct Basic Life Support (BLS) program in order to harness the knowledge of students in responding to emergency situations and disaster preparedness.

Primo Agatep/ABN