Legazpi City- The Department of Education Region V will be working with the Department of Public Works and Highways Region V (DPWH V) for the construction of the community kitchens for the Mayon evacuees in Albay and for the provision of labor support in the construction of Temporary Learning Shelters in schools.On February 6, 2018, Regional Director Ramon Fiel Abcede together with the Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Team of DepEd ROV met with the representatives of DPWH Regional Office V headed by Assistant Regional Director Esmeraldo Samiento and discussed how they will collaborate for the construction of 33 communal kitchens which are to be constructed in schools for the utilization of the Mayon evacuees.

The primary goal of this partnership is to provide the evacuees with a cooking facility conducive for safe and healthy meal preparation.

During the meeting, Assistant Regional Director Sarmiento said that they have already allotted fund for the construction of the community kitchen amounting to P2,970,000. He explained that each unit will cost P90,000 and it will be built as a permanent structure so that DepEd schools will stil benefit from it even after the evacuation order is lifted in the affected areas.
The role of DepEd in this partnership is to identify the buildable spaces where the construction may take place. Currently, DepEd has already recommended the construction of community kitchen in 33 schools in Albay, consisted of four (4) schools in Ligao City, two (2) in Legazpi City, four (4) in Tabaco City, one (1) in Bacacay, three (3) in Sto. Domingo, five (5) in Daraga, three (3) in Malilipot, seven (7) in Guinobatan and five (5) in Camalig,

ARD Sarmiento expressed DPWH’s assistance to provide additional manpower to hasten the construction of 354 Temporary Learning Shelters in schools.
The two agencies committed to perform their best efforts to immediately implement the said projects in order to support the government’s response to the impacts of Mayon to the affected communities in Albay.
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