Lucy opens new school building built in 'record time'

ORMOC CITY, Philippines – A short three months after she led the groundbreaking ceremony at the New Ormoc City National High School (NOCNHS) last Dec. 19 to start off the construction of a four-classroom building she asked from Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, Rep. Lucy Torres-Gomez returned to the school to lead the inauguration of the finished building last March 28.

Torres-Gomez expressed her appreciation to contractor Roland Villasencio, the lone Liberal Party candidate who made it as Ormoc City councilor, and engineer Lino Gonzales, officer-in-charge of the fourth district of Leyte of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), for the swift implementation of the project.

The swift construction of the classroom building is considered a record in Ormoc, where delayed and long-drawn constructions are the norm rather than the exception.

Estrada himself would have graced the inauguration, except that he had a previous engagement. The Estradas are among the closest friends of Torres-Gomez and her husband Richard.

The four-classroom building was built according to a standard design prescribed by the Department of Education and the DPWH.

Torres-Gomez said she liked the design because it was functional and more importantly, each classroom has its own comfort room.

This way, she said, parents will no longer be burdened by building comfort rooms as their homeroom PTA project and students will be comfortable.

The lower walls of each classroom are open spaces secured by iron bars for air ventilation, as the Aquino administration is pushing for energy-efficient infrastructure.

Villasencio said the building is equipped with built-in electric outlets for wall fans and other electrical gadgets that the school might have. It has fluorescent lamps as lighting fixtures, with reflectors to maximize the distribution of light.

In her talk before the NOCNHS students and teachers after the ribbon cutting, Torres-Gomez urged them to take good care of the classrooms.

Alluding to a quote on the wall (“The difference between poverty and wealth is education”), she said one cannot choose how one is born, whether to a wealthy or poor family, but can do something about his or her status in life if given the chance to have good education.

That is why, she added, providing good education to her constituents tops her priorities.

She promised her constituents that she would work hard to bring them more benefits, adding that she even agreed to do a cameo role in “Panday” in exchange for another four-classroom building, this time courtesy of Sen. Bong Revilla.

Teachers and parents present lauded the congresswoman’s swift implementation of her projects, noting that the four-classroom building was finished in “record time” and wishing that other government agencies would follow her example so as not to inconvenience the public.