Relief work tops FFCCCII’s concerns
Providing relief to the disadvantaged has been the advocacy of the Federation of Filipino Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc. or FFCCCII.
The group is also funding the Deaf Evangelistic Alliance Foundation or DEAF Inc. apart from providing thousands of school buildings and classrooms to farflung areas in the country, providing a fighting chance for deaf and mute Filipinos to be well-integrated into the society.
“Part of providing classrooms project of the FFCCCII is to build school buildings for the deaf and mute students nationwide. This as we understand that it is hard to find classrooms. We provide basic sign language education for deaf students. I have a school that produces teachers and sends them to the deaf and mute schools,” Dr. Cecilio Pedro said in an interview with the DAILY TRIBUNE’s digital show, Straight Talk.
To date, the FFCCCII had supported learners in 16 deaf and mute schools, scattered in the archipelago including in Davao, Nueva Ecija, Ilocos Norte and Palawan, among others.
“This would make deaf and mute students once they graduate, become better and responsible citizens in the community,” he added.
According to Pedro, the country indeed lacks teachers and classrooms for the deaf and mute, in which in the latest count of the government, about a million deaf and mute children currently need a special kind of education in the Philippines.
“Luckily, the Duterte Administration has given a sort of subsidy for the education of our deaf and mute community. Some of our students are receiving a subsidy of P60,000 for deaf students—P30,000 for the students and P30,000 for the institutions for the entire year,” he said.
To date, Dr. Pedro said the project has produced 400 teachers nationwide teaching the deaf and mute.
DEAF Inc. is a nonprofit organization registered under the Securities and Exchange Commission, established to assist the deaf through education and skills training based on Christian principles and values.
It has schools in the provinces of Laguna, Palawan and Nueva Ecija.
It also supports programs that help equip individuals to deal witheafness in communities.
Some of these programs include homebased instruction, sign language training, ear care seminars, and hearing screening programs.
Operation: Barrio schools
Also, the FFCCCII is providing school buildings to far-flung areas that are hardly reached by the education programs of the government.
The Operation: Barrio Schools was started in 1960 after FFCCCII was established in 1954.
The said project was considered the longest-running private sector-led school building construction program in the country, which aims to augment the country’s classroom shortage by constructing two-classroom buildings in public schools in all regions through donations from FFCCCII members, benevolent organizations, families and individuals within the Filipino-Chinese community.
“To date, we have already constructed more than 12,000 classrooms schools and more than 5,000 school buildings. We also send teachers to those schools,” he said.
Last August 2023, the Department of Education admitted that the country was short of 159,000 classrooms for this school year.
In a Senate hearing, Assistant Secretary Francis Bringas said the 2023-2024 school year classroom deficit is far more severe than last year’s shortage of 91,000 classrooms.
To date, the FFCCCII had supported learners in 16 deaf and mute schools, scattered in the archipelago including in Davao, Nueva Ecija, Ilocos Norte and Palawan, among others.