6,be frlsnils @imes
M0N DAY September 23, 2019
Restoration of heritage
schools to cost P2.48
THE Department of Education
(DepEd) will spend billion in
P2.4
. 2020 to preserve heritaqe publi(
schools nationwide, (ebu Rep.
Eduardo Gullas said.
Gullas, a member of the Ap-
propriations (ommittee of the
House of Representativei, said an
additional P384 million was added
to the P2.06-billion earmarked
this year for the conservation and
restoration of Gabaldon and other
historiral schoolhouses.
"We have, nationwide, around
1,800 Gabaldon srhool blocks, of
lfhi(h oJer 140 are in (ebu," Gul-
lS, also an edurator, said.
-:r,Many of the remaining Gabal-
don school structures were built
during the early years of American
colonization, and are now well
over a century old.
The prog ra m was introduced
by lsauro Gabaldon, a member
of the 1907 Philippine Assem-
bly who authored the law that
appropriated Pl million "for the
(onstruction of srhool houses of
strong materials in barrios with
guaranteed daily attendance of
not less than 60 pupils."
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"0ur Gabaldon school houses are
valuable rultural asets that hold
pieres of our history," Gullas said.
He cited the need "to safe-
guard the heritage s(hool
stru(tures to remind future
generations of Filipinos of the
g ra ndeur and aestheti( splendor
of the architectural desiqns of
the past."
The cons€rvation and restora-
tion of Gabaldon school built-
inls ishandated by Republic Act
1'1194, whi(h President Rodrigo
Duterte signed into law in Janu-
ary th is year.
The law compels the DepEd
to identify, refurbish and
protect all Ga ba ld on school
stru ctu re s, in (oordination
with the National (ommission
for Iulture and the Arts, th€
N atio na I Hi5torical (om miss io n
and the National M useu m.
Gabaldon schoolhouses were .
built based on a standard design'
developed by William Parsons,
aconsulting architeit to the
United States government from
1905 to 1914.
GLEE JALEA
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