City hall stops construction of schools
DEFECTIVE STRUCTURES
THE new classrooms being built are not safe.
This was the initial finding of the City Engineer’s Office that prompted City Engineer Virginia Rosario to order the suspension of the construction of 58 classrooms in 11 school sites to be undertaken by BF Construction under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP).
She also cited the lack of building permits, structural integrity issues and safety of pupils inside the classrooms. She also said the materials are made of corrosive materials that are deemed unsuitable in a coastal area like Dagupan.
When she and Mayor Belen Fernandez toured the Federico N. Ceralde Integrated School in Barangay Bonuan Binloc, she found out a two-story building was already built without a permit from her office, and worse there was no structural analysis of the design submitted to her office.
Teachers, she said, complained about the hot temperature inside the classrooms making their pupils uncomfortable even as they noted that the building’s foundation appeared weak.
Rosario said she had already written the school administration not to use the building.
This building built at Federico Ceralde Integrated School in Bonuan Binloc, Dagupan City through Public-Private Partnership with BF Construction as the contractor, remains unoccupied while 10 other similar projects in different school sites have been suspended indefinitely.
Affected by Rosario’s suspension order are the construction activities in Barangays Sabangan, Malued, Pugaro, Bolosan, Salapingao, Bonuan Boquig, Carael, Tapuac, and in Judge Jose de Venecia Memorial National High School.
Rosario also wrote Dr. Gloria Torres, this city’s schools division superintendent, about her stoppage order.
Torres, in turn, reported to the 1st Dagupan City Multi-Sectoral Summit on Education at last August 15 that she had called the attention of the Department of Education (DepEd) officials and she said she expects a meeting with Usec for Finance and Administration Francisco Valera to be attended by Mayor Belen T. Fernandez will be scheduled soon.
She said education officials of Dagupan City had pointed out in earlier meetings that the city be exempted from the agreement between the DepEd and BF Construction on the project.
Edilberto Abalos, Division Program Supervisor of DepEd here in charge of physical facilities, said model used in this PPP was designed by BF Construction for Region 1 and he raised questions about the structural strength of the building.
However, Abalos said BF Construction representatives assured him that the building can withstand even a 200 to 300 kilometers per hour wind in case of typhoon.
“But our division has no say about it because they deal directly with the DepEd in Manila,” Abalos lamented.
Torres said she hopes the meeting “will settle the problem once and for all” since the classrooms will also be used as evacuation centers in the event a calamity hits the city.
Mayor Fernandez also expressed hopes that the structural integrity and safety issues will be resolved soon since the safety of the pupils is “everyone’s primary concern.” (Tita Roces)
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