MCGI Participate in DepEd’s ‘Brigada Eskwela’ Clean-up Program with LGUs, NGOs

Manila, Philippines (June 28, 2016) – The Members Church of God International (MCGI), along with various non-government organizations and local government units, actively helped in readying public schools across the country for the upcoming school year in DepEd’s annual Brigada Eskwela (School Brigade) program.

Spearheaded by DepEd, the Brigada Eskwela is a week-long nationwide project which aims to sanitize, rehabilitate and prepare public schools across the Philippines for the start of classes. This year, the event happened from May 30 to June 4, 2016.

Now on its 14th year of inception, the Brigada Eskwela has since become an annual summer tradition for the education sector of the government.

This year, outgoing DepEd Sec. Armin Luistro kicked off the Brigada Eskwela program in Nueva Vizcaya with the theme, “We are for safe, orderly and well-prepared schools from kindergarten to senior high school.”

Education Usec. Mario Deriquito also called on all volunteers to join the cleaning and repair works in all public elementary and secondary schools across the country.

“We are asking our volunteers and our communities to ensure that there is nothing there that will impose danger to our students,” said DepEd Usec Deriquito.

“We ensure the classrooms to be orderly and clean. We ask our volunteers to bring cleaning materials and painting materials and to be ready to do minor repairs.”

MCGI’s Brigada Eskwela Highlights

In cooperation with local government units across the Philippines, as well as non-government associations such the Home Owners’ Association, 4Ps Beneficiaries and Gabriela, the youth arm of MCGI heeded the call to help clean up and maintain numerous public schools nationwide.

Here are a few of MCGI’s Brigada Eskwela highlights across the nation:

• Volunteers cleaned Novaliches High School’s covered court and classrooms, as well as donated electrical supplies for the school.
• In Tandang Sora High School and Pugad Lawin High School in Quezon City, chairs were repaired, fixed and repainted.
• Bread members in the Polytechnic University of the Philippines also took part by cleaning the university’s Lagoon Park.
• In Limay, Bataan, aside from donating cleaning supplies, MCGI members also held a feeding program for the volunteers who helped with the school rehabilitation.
• In Bacolod City, Saarba Elementary School and Handumanan National High School were among the schools that benefitted from the Brigada Eskwela program.
• In Zamboanga City, MCGI volunteers were joined by policemen and deployed soldiers in the cleaning of public high schools across the city.

The charitable endeavor of MCGI is powered mostly by Youth Ministry members of the Church, and has been heavily commended by its beneficiaries.

“I am overwhelmed. I didn’t expect the overflowing of support from you volunteers, and that many have shown their concern for the cleanliness of the rooms that the children will be using,” exclaimed Brgy. Captain Crisel Beltran of Brgy. Bagong Silangan, expressing her thanks to the youth volunteers of MCGI who helped clean up their school.

(Written by Sis. Yanna Faye Ferrera)