Makeshift tents were already set up inside the compound of Maribago Elementary and High School in Sitio Datag, Barangay Maribago, Lapu-Lapu City to accommodate students who were displaced by a fire that gutted their classrooms early on Tuesday morning.
The school’s stage and covered court were also cleared for the establishment of additional makeshift classrooms to allow the resumption of classes on Wednesday, said Lapu-Lapu City Schools Superintendent Ronald Ferrer.
Classes was suspended on Tuesday after a fire broke out at 6:42 a.m. and damaged 12 classrooms occupied by kindergarten, elementary and high school students.
Damage caused by the fire was pegged at P500,000.
SFO1 Hadjiluden Samonte of the Lapu-Lapu City Fire Department said a lighted cigarette butt thrown into a pile of woods and dried leaves that were kept at the back of the damaged classrooms, may have caused the fire.
Suspended Lapu-Lapu City mayor Paz Radaza visited the fire site on Tuesday morning and requested job order workers assigned at the city’s Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) to help clear debris and prepare the school for the resumption of classes on Wednesday.