Pork for 'green schools'

Lawmaker allocates pork for 'green schools'

11/26/2010 - MANILA, Philippines - Sen. Loren Legarda on Friday said she would commit a significant portion of her 2011 Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) for the construction of disaster-resistant "green schools."

Legarda, chairman of the Senate Committee on Climate Change, said she wants to give priority to addressing the long-standing problem of lack of classrooms and school buildings and to ensure that these infrastructures are safe and disaster-resilient.

"We want to build not just school buildings, but green schools that are disaster-resilient. Aside from being structurally safe and organizationally prepared for disasters, we want these schools to be innovative and environment-friendly by putting up rainwater catchment systems, growing vegetable gardens, using renewable energy and setting up a recycling program, among others," she said in a press statement.

Legarda said at least 1 percent of the national budget for 2011 should be earmarked for disaster risk reduction. She cited a World Bank study that showed that for every dollar invested in disaster reduction measures saves seven to ten dollars in losses from natural disasters. {read rest}