Hot logs turned school chairs ready by June

29 May 2011

Hot logs turned into chairs will give hundreds of public school students their own armchairs for the first time when classes open next month.

A total of 500 school chairs are expected to be produced from an initial volume of lumber processed from logs confiscated mostly in southern Philippines.

Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), Department of Education (DepEd, Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) collaborated for an initiative called the PNoy Bayanihan project that would gather all confiscated logs, process them into lumber to be used for the production of armchairs.

PAGCOR will provide a fund of P100 million for the equipment to be used in the manufacture of the armchairs, DepEd will take charge of the distribution, while TESDA will handle the actual production through the setting up of at least 10 productions sites nationwide.

"We condemn the illegal acts of the loggers. But we will not put to waste what they stole from the forests by turning them into armchairs and other school furniture," TESDA Director General Joel Villanueva said.

The project will not only help address the shortage of armchairs in many public schools, but "in a way, will give  justice to environment advocates who have perished in the line of duty," Villanueva said.

The TESDA chief said forest guards, engineers and other environment activists have been the target of illegal loggers because of their advocacy to protect and preserve the country's forests.

The first batch of armchairs will be distributed to the CARAGA region, which has about 40,000 armchair shortage.

Several provinces in southern Philippines are also experiencing the lack of armchairs, particularly Bukidnon (25,844) and Misamis Oriental (12,872) in Region 10 and Compostela Valley (8,057) and Davao del Norte (7,936) in Region 11.

According to Villanueva, once the equipment from PAGCOR for the armchair manufacturing are in place, TESDA targets to produce about 20,000 units per month.

TESDA students who will undergo skills training will handle the production of the school furniture.

Once the confiscated logs have been used up, DepEd will purchase lumber for the production of armchairs and other school furniture.

To date, about seven million board feet of wood have been confiscated in the CARAGA region.