Weeks ahead of the national midterm election, one of Valenzuela’s biggest high schools set the ball rolling to solarize part of its facilities to be used as voting precincts as a testimony of its commitment to a clean election and the security of frontline education workers.
General Tiburcio De Leon National High School led the signing of a Memorandum of Agreement with sustainability think-tank Center for Energy, Ecology, and Development (CEED) and the Teachers’ Dignity Coalition (TDC) to advocate for renewable energy and put up their own solar photovoltaic (PV) system.
“Institutions like ours bear the responsibility of helping shape our country’s future through ensuring quality education for Filipino youth and, during election periods, through safeguarding the integrity of our voting polls. Power supply interruptions put this at risk. This MOA is our contribution to a successful election process and to advancing a sustainable future for our country,” said Principal Eddie Alarte of Gen. T. De Leon National High School.
The initiative is in line with Kontra Brownout, Iwas Daya, a watchdog campaign launched earlier this month by multisectoral groups including CEED, TDC, Legal Network for Truthful Elections, Caritas Philippines, and others to guard against electoral fraud amid perennial outages nationally especially during the summer season.
“Teachers are the backbone of national elections. Any risk to the supply of electricity amid preparations for or during the May polls endangers not only the effectiveness of our work, but also the very security of the election process and of teachers and voters themselves. That’s why we welcome this initiative of Gen. T. High School for clean and reliable electricity, and hope that the national government will support other public educational institutions to do the same,” said Benjo Basas of TDC.
The MOA and the upcoming solarization for the high school also marks the start of solarization efforts by the Teachers’ Dignity Coalition – one of the Philippines’ biggest teachers’ associations – with its member schools, as contribution toward the 10 Million Solar Rooftops Challenge.
Convened by CEED and nearly 30 other multisectoral organizations in 2024, the Challenge invites individuals, households, businesses, government bodies, organizations, schools, establishments, Churches, offices, local and national government units, and agencies, to contribute to installing solar rooftop PV systems in 10 million roofs across the Philippines through multi-sectoral advocacy and cooperation.
“The Philippines has an abundant potential for renewable energy, with an estimated 91 GW for solar rooftop PV systems alone. These are systems that can be installed in any terrain – even in the concrete jungle that is Metro Manila – and benefit Filipinos of all walks of life with affordable, reliable, and clean power,” said Avril De Torres, Deputy Executive Director of CEED.
