A National Classroom Drive
Apl lent his platform to a private-sector push to close the Philippine classroom backlog, committing 20 classrooms in communities from Mindanao to Luzon - several replacing rooms lost to flooding.
In 2011, Apl was named special ambassador for education of the Ninoy and Cory Aquino Foundation's iamninoy-iamcory movement. Out of that came We Can Be Anything, a joint advocacy of the Apl.de.ap Foundation and NCAF supporting private-sector efforts to close the Philippine classroom backlog - then estimated at 66,800 rooms. The campaign backed Bayanihang Pampaaralan of the 57-75 Education Reform Movement, with support from PLDT-Smart Foundation, One Meralco Foundation, Philippine Airlines, and PAGCOR.
In December 2011, Tropical Storm Sendong tore through Cagayan de Oro. Apl went to see the damage himself and chose Balulang Elementary School - which had lost ten of its twenty-seven classrooms and its science laboratory - as the campaign's first beneficiary. He led the groundbreaking in February 2012, and the new two-storey building opened that September.
With San Miguel and the AGAPP Foundation, the foundation committed ten kindergarten classrooms across five communities: Pugaan, Iponan, Sapang Bato, Santo Cristo, and Lapay. Several replaced rooms destroyed by flooding. Pugaan and Iponan were delivered first; Santo Cristo opened in September 2012.
Across these partnerships, the foundation committed to 20 classrooms from Mindanao to Luzon. Each was built with an implementing partner and turned over to the local school. This work became the base for what is now the Strong Start pillar.