Needed: Toilets, books, classrooms.

By Voltaire TUPAZ, RAPPLER.com
May 23, 2012

MANILA, Philippines – “Sir, Madi ak nag masirek ta adda diarrhea.” (Sir, please excuse me for being absent today because I have diarrhea.)

This is one of the excuse letters that Huebert Lorenzo would usually receive from his students in a primary school in Bgy Maligaya, Alfonso Lista, Ifugao.

The 26-year-old teacher said 8 of his 25 students suffered from diarrhea last school year (2011-2012). A doctor came up and distributed chlorine to help disinfect the water coming from two wells, the main sources of the community’s drinking water.

According to Lorenzo, the water treatment happened only once, and it was the only time during the school year that the students in the remote indigenous village saw a doctor.

Basic services hardly reach the village of Maligaya. Until now, it has no electricity and could only be reached using a motorcycle.

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