Rebuilding Cabcaban school

If you saw a school the pupils of which studied in a campus with dilapidated building structures, the middle-class Filipino parent would be quick to attest that such environment would not provide a suitable learning ambience for his or her child. Such was the situation months ago in one of the elementary schools in Sumisip, Basilan.

Cabcaban is one of the 29 barangays in Sumisip town in the island-province of Basilan, and the Cabcaban Elementary School provides basic education to over two hundred children, many among whom have gone through the trauma of inter-clan conflicts that happened in years.

Starting mid-June this year, some Philippine Seabees from the 3rd Naval Construction Battalion, and U.S. Navy Seabees from the Joint Special Operations Task Force-Philippines began rehabilitation of the Cabcaban Elementary School campus—certainly "the largest single civil military engineering project recently undertaken by combined AFP and U.S. military engineers in the Southern Philippines."

"The five-building campus serves over 200 children in a rural area of Basilan. The project was completed on August 31," shared JSOTFP spokesman Maj. Ken Hoffman.

As the renovation of the entire campus saw completion in early September, the school officials and students prepared for a dedication ceremony which they saw fit to be set on September 6. The simple but meaningful rites were attended by representatives from the Philippine and US militaries, along with local residents, most of whom were parents of the schoolchildren, and school officials led by teacher-in-charge Tina Muzarin, teachers, and students.

Adding color and significance to the ceremony was the presence of Task Force Comet commander Marine Maj. General Juancho Sabban, JSOTFP commander Col. William Coultrup.

"The new school complex will have an immediate and positive impact on the local community's quality of education. This project made a previously unusable school fully functional," Hoffman stressed.

The Philippine and American armed forces are liaising jointly in the conduct of civil-military activities, mostly engineering and infrastructure projects and community-building programs, in southern Philippines. (Frencie L. Carreon)