Unfinished school building exposed

BIEN-UNIDO, BOHOL, Philippines — Residents and teachers have exposed the what they described as unfinished and abandoned public secondary school building in Hingotanan Island of Bien-Unido town.

They said the building was constructed sometime in 2012 before the earthquake struck the province. They also learned that its construction was the project of the Bohol provincial government.

Now, they are wondering why the provincial government, thru its contractor, did not complete the building for additional classrooms of the school, according to a concerned islander, who requested anonymity in an exclusive interview with The Freeman.

Vice Governor Dionisio Balite, along with Provincial Board Members Niño  Rey Boniel,  Benjie Arcamo,  Aga Avenido, Dionisio Victor Balite, and Tommy Abapo Jr. and their personnel, learned this sad state of the school during their visit here on Friday.

The two-story building still stands-with corroded iron bars, roofless and with incomplete concrete walls–at this island comprising Barangays East and West Hingotanan, about one hour and 20 minutes by motorized boats from mainland when the sea is calm.

Provincial Engineer Redulla, who also visited the town, said the delay in the construction of the building was due to earthquake, the reason why it must be earthquake-resilient based on the new issued guidelines.

Redulla also said that distance of the island from the mainland may have discouraged the contractor to finish it. It was not immediately known how much the contractor got including the so-called mobilization fund for the project, but he said the original price tag of the building was P1.4 million, which is now raised to P3 million, with the bidding set this week.

High school principal Israel Padilla invited Balite and company to see for themselves the unfinished high school building situated in nearby high school premises in the island. He showed them the unfinished building to the provincial officials, including barangay officials of Hingotanan East.

Balite said the PB will look into this matter, so that legislative measures can be enacted to prevent construction neglect that should not be repeated in the future. (FREEMAN)