Post-Yolanda DEPED project: New classroom leaking; school told to complain

CEBU, Philippines - An official of the Capitol’s rehabilitation team has discovered a newly-constructed classroom at Kawit Elementary School in Medellin town that he said shown signs of “poor construction quality.”

Baltazar Tribunalo Jr., head of Task Force Paglig-on, which is mandated to monitor rehabilitation efforts in northern Cebu, said he himself saw rainwater dropping from the ceiling of the classroom.

He said he suspected that the building, whose construction the Department of Education funded and contracted out to Rovilla Construction, was “not properly’ constructed.”

“Sorry for the word, pero minantinil lang ba. Ang mga suga nangapunder na. Akong giingnan ang principal nga ma’am pwede ra ni ninyo magamit pero ireklamo gyod ni,”  he told The FREEMAN.

Task Force Paglig-on would recommend to Rovilla to do a “back job” once it is proven that its workmanship is poor.

For his part, Medellin Mayor Ricardo Ramirez said he did not receive any report about what Tribunalo discovered, but vowed that he would check the project and confer with the DepEd district supervisor about the problem.

The FREEMAN contacted Engr. Romeo Villaceran of Rovilla Construction but he could not be reached for comment.

In an interview with radio dyAB, however, Ramirez said he was able to talk to Villaceran over the phone and raise to him the concern.

Quoting Villaceran, Ramirez said the cracks in the wall of the classroom Tribunalo referred to only occurred on the finishing, which happens almost all buildings.

Ramirez said Villaceran assured that they would inspect the project within the week.

“Mipasalig man sila nga i-correct… Misalig man pud ko kay kaila na man ko ani (contractor) di man pareha anang uban,” he said in the radio interview.

Tribunalo said the task force will inspect other school buildings, and warned contractors of government projects for the rehabilitation of typhoon-affected areas to avoid doing substandard works if they do not want any problem later on.

“Modasig ko nila nga kung dunay nabantayan sa proyekto, ipahibalo gyud aron maaksyonan. Aron kung kinsa na nga contractor madisiplina gyud pud, (I urged the community and local officials to report any defects they see so they could be acted upon and the contractor could be discipline the contractor),” he said.

He also commended local officials and citizens who took time to air out their concerns regarding the implementation of rehabilitation projects. —(FREEMAN)