Soldiers of the 8th Infantry Division (8ID) set aside their combat roles this week to take up paintbrushes, hammers and brooms, joining the Department of Education's annual Brigada Eskwela volunteer drive to repair and rehabilitate public schools across Eastern Visayas ahead of the June 8 opening of School Year 2026–2027.
The Camp Lukban-based division deployed troops to assigned schools in six provinces — Samar, Eastern Samar, Northern Samar, Leyte, Southern Leyte and Biliran — working alongside local government units, teachers, parents and community volunteers to ensure classrooms were ready before the first day of classes.
The effort formed part of the nationwide Brigada Eskwela program, which ran from June 1 to 5 under DepEd Memorandum No. 27, s. 2026, with this year's theme: "Bayanihan sa Paaralan: Nagkakaisa para sa Kaayusan at Kaalaman."
Troops Deployed Across All Six Eastern Visayas Provinces
According to the 8ID, soldiers performed a range of physical tasks at their assigned schools — painting classrooms, repairing roofs, fixing furniture, clearing school grounds and constructing minor school infrastructure. The scale of the deployment spanned the entire Eastern Visayas region, covering all six provinces under the division's area of responsibility.
Particular attention, the division said, was directed toward campuses located in Geographically Isolated and Disadvantaged Areas, commonly referred to as GIDAs — remote communities where volunteer labor and material resources are most difficult to access and where school readiness challenges tend to be most acute.
The 8ID framed its participation within the framework of the Armed Forces of the Philippines' Whole-of-Nation approach to peace and development — a doctrine that positions soldiers not only as security providers but as active participants in building resilient and self-sustaining communities.
Catbalogan Principal: Soldiers Freed Teachers for Academic Preparation
At Catbalogan 5 Central Elementary School in Catbalogan City, Samar, the visible impact of the military's involvement was felt by school administrators and staff almost immediately.
Principal Renante Legatub said the soldiers' manpower relieved teachers — the majority of them women — from the burden of heavy physical labor in preparing their classrooms, allowing them to redirect their time and energy toward lesson planning and the preparation of learning materials.
"Napakalaking tulong and we are very grateful na pinupuntahan kami dito ng mga external stakeholders gaya ng mga sundalo para mas mapabilis ang trabaho ng mga teachers para maging ready sa pasukan this coming June 8," Legatub said.
Legatub's remarks highlighted a practical dimension of the military's involvement that extended beyond physical repair work — by handling the manual labor, soldiers effectively multiplied the capacity of school staff during the critical final days before the school year's opening.
DepEd's ₱2-Billion Partnership With DOLE Backs Nationwide Drive
The 8ID's participation in Eastern Visayas is one component of a much larger national mobilization. This year's Brigada Eskwela is backed by a ₱2-billion partnership between the Department of Education and the Department of Labor and Employment, which funded the deployment of approximately 240,000 workers under the Tupad cash-for-work program to assist in preparing public schools nationwide.
Education Secretary Sonny Angara led the nationwide kickoff ceremony in Agusan del Norte, signaling the government's commitment to ensuring that public school facilities across the country meet minimum standards before students return for the new academic year.
The Armed Forces of the Philippines, along with other government agencies, civil society organizations and private sector partners, was among the sectors formally tapped by DepEd as Brigada Eskwela volunteers under the memorandum governing this year's program.
Bayanihan Doctrine Drives Military's Community Engagement Role
In its official statement on the initiative, the 8ID described joining Brigada Eskwela as a concrete expression of the Army's investment in the country's future — specifically, in the educational welfare of Filipino children in communities the division is tasked to serve and protect.
The division further encouraged military and civilian personnel, retirees and their families to extend the spirit of the initiative by volunteering in their own localities, whether or not they are formally assigned to a specific school under the program.
The Whole-of-Nation approach, which underpins the Army's community engagement activities, recognizes that lasting peace and development require the convergence of military, civilian government and community efforts — particularly in areas where state services have historically been limited or difficult to deliver.
New Three-Term Calendar Sets June 8 as School Year Start
The urgency of this year's Brigada Eskwela preparations is tied directly to the rollout of DepEd's new three-term academic calendar. School Year 2026–2027 is set to begin on June 8 — making the June 1 to 5 volunteer window a narrow but critical interval for completing physical school readiness work.
Under the new calendar structure, the traditional August-to-March school year has been restructured into three terms, a shift DepEd says better aligns the Philippine academic calendar with international standards and reduces disruptions caused by the country's typhoon season, which typically peaks between July and November.
The compressed timeline between the end of Brigada Eskwela on June 5 and the first day of classes on June 8 means that volunteer efforts like those carried out by the 8ID carry immediate and measurable consequences for school readiness — particularly in rural and GIDA communities where professional contractors and paid workers are rarely available on short notice.
8ID Reinforces Civil-Military Ties Through Education Sector Work
For the 8ID, participation in Brigada Eskwela reflects a pattern of civil-military engagement that the division has sustained across its area of operations in Eastern Visayas. Beyond counterinsurgency and territorial defense functions, the division has increasingly positioned community development activities — including education, health and infrastructure support — as integral to its mandate.
The soldiers who volunteered for school repair work this week did so in an environment that demands both operational discipline and sensitivity to the communities they work with. Brigada Eskwela, with its emphasis on collective action and communal responsibility, provides a natural point of convergence between military capacity and community need.
As of June 5, 2026 — the final day of this year's Brigada Eskwela period — troops from the 8ID had completed their assigned tasks across the six-province deployment area, with classrooms, grounds and facilities in their target schools readied ahead of the June 8 opening bell.
Photo credit: Photo courtesy of 8th Infantry Division / Philippine Army