Don’t use classrooms not turned over

CEBU, Philippines - The Department of Education – Cebu Province Division has advised schools not to occupy classrooms and/or school buildings that have not been turned over to them officially.

Dr. Arden Monisit, DepEd provincial schools division superintendent, said this is to allow contractors to rectify projects should they find defects.

“Kay kung naay maguba, ipausab pa na sa contractor. I’m sure ang contractor di pod mosugot nga pagamitan kay wa pa man na nabayri,” Monisit said in an interview over dyAB.

He clarified, however, that he has not received complains just yet of “substandard” school buildings despite his office having sent letters of rectification to different contractors who are only given 15 days to correct defects.

“Ang bintana ba ron nga nangaguba, dili maabli or masira ang pultahan,” he said.

Monisit made the advice yesterday following reports that a classroom of Kawit Elementary School in Medellin town has “poor quality.”

Monisit said the classroom, a project of the Department of Public Works and Highways, has not been turned over to DepEd.

He, however, assured that a DepEd engineer will be sent to the site to check on the project and advise the school principal not to utilize the classroom just yet.

Baltazar Tribunalo Jr., head of Task Force Paglig-on, a team mandated by the provincial government to monitor rehabilitation efforts in northern Cebu, earlier reported that cracks were found on the classroom walls while rainwater were dropping from the ceiling, prompting him to suspect that the building was ‘not properly’ constructed.

Medellin Mayor Ricardo Ramirez who discussed the concern with the contractor, Rovilla Construction, said he was told that cracks on the wall referred to by Tribunalo are only on the “finishing,” which happens to almost all structures.

Tribunalo, however, told The FREEMAN last night that the contractor has already checked the project and corrected the cracks.

He said his office will continue guarding the implementation of post-Yolanda projects to ensure that their construction is undertaken in accordance to the amount allocated for the project. — Michael Vencynth H. Braga/JMO (FREEMAN)