ACT seeks post-quake check of school infra

ACT OF NATURE Boulders fall on a car parked by the roadside near a welcome arch in Glan town, Sarangani province, following Monday’s magnitude 7.8 earthquake. The powerful quake struck as the school year opened, damaging more than 1,200 schools in six regions in Mindanao. —BONG S. SARMIENTO

An organization of teachers has urged the government to conduct a nationwide audit of school infrastructure and the immediate demolition of school buildings rendered unsafe after a magnitude 7.8 earthquake on Monday struck parts of Mindanao and damaged classrooms and school buildings and facilities across five regions on the island.

“The destruction witnessed in Mindanao should serve as a wake-up call,” Ruby Bernardo, chair of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT), said in a statement on Wednesday.

ACT, citing data from the Second Congressional Commission on Education (Edcom II) National Education Plan, said 51,222 classrooms age 50 years and older were set for condemnation by 2028, while 2,335 classrooms had been destroyed by typhoons, earthquakes, and other disasters in recent years.

The group said these figures highlighted not only the severe backlog in school infrastructure across the Philippines but also the ongoing risk faced by millions of students and education workers who continue to study and work in unsafe environments.

ACT also emphasized that aside from aging facilities and repeated natural disasters, there are deeper concerns over the quality and integrity of school construction projects.

It pointed out that the Department of Education (DepEd) had identified over a thousand school buildings constructed by the Department of Public Works and Highways that were officially turned over but remained unfinished, unusable or nonoperational.

“This is deeply alarming. At a time when public schools are suffering from severe classroom shortages, the existence of unfinished and unusable school buildings points to systemic failures in planning, implementation, and accountability,” Bernardo said.

BEYOND REPAIR A school building at Notre Dame of Glan in Sarangani province collapses following the intense ground shaking from the magnitude 7.8 earthquake that rocked Mindanao on Monday. —BONG S. SARMIENTO

Funds needed

The DepEd said it would need more than P279 million to cover cleanup operations, debris removal, and minor repair works in schools hit by the earthquake that struck off Sarangani province on June 8, as classes for the new school year opened.

In a situation report on Wednesday, the DepEd said repairing damaged classrooms would need an initial P243.13 million while P36.7 million should be allotted for school cleanup and debris clearing in earthquake-hit areas.

The combined amount represents assessments covering 1,270 public schools that reported damage to classrooms and facilities across 38 school divisions in 24 provinces across six regions in Mindanao.

Data released by the DepEd as of 5 p.m. on Wednesday showed that 1,556 classrooms were destroyed. It said 1,699 classrooms had major damage while 4,962 had minor damage. At least 179 water, sanitation and hygiene facilities in these schools were also damaged.

Among the hardest-hit areas were South Cotabato province, with 194 damaged schools; Cotabato, 172; Sultan Kudarat, 157; Sarangani, 120; and Davao Occidental, 101.

The earthquake also disrupted school operations in the region, with classes in 3,548 schools still suspended.

The DepEd Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Service reported that P21.902 million in initial response funds had already been released for urgent interventions, even as field validation and engineering assessments continued.