Funds eyed for 40 schools without emergency exits

ORDER OF THE DAY. Parents and students check the enrolment list tacked on the bulletin board of the Cebu City Central School as public schools nationwide opened its campuses for the first day of the school year. (CDN Photo/Junjie Mendoza)

The Cebu City government will tap private contractors to build emergency exits in 40 public elementary and high school buildings to ensure that they are safe for occupancy.

Acting Mayor Edgar Labella, who noticed the lack of exits during an inspection last week, said “emergency purchases” of materials are needed since classes already opened yesterday.

City Hall placed on standby P22 million from its Special Education Fund (SEF) but only P12 million may actually be spent, he said.

“Most of the school buildings only have one staircase. This may be dangerous to school children even when there are minor tremors, worse if there is fire,” he said.

As earler as 2011, the Ombudsman-Visayas called the city government’s attention to the defects and lack of emergency exits in 11 public elementary and high schools.
Sub-standard

Former Asst. Ombudsman-Visayas Virgina Palanca Santiago had ordered an investigation into reports of “substandard” and insufficiently equipped structures.

Labella said yesterday he doesn’t want to engage in finger-pointing which would just put political color on the issue.

“Our immediate concern is the safety of the children. I do not want to dwell on who is to be blamed,” he said.

Labella said Mayor Michael Rama also wanted to make it a policy that mid-rise school buildings should have at least two staircases.

Jose Daluz III, head of the Local School Board (LSB), said they started building additional stairways as emergency exits in three to four-story school buildings during the summer break.

Prepared

But due to lack of manpower, LSB masons and carpenters were unable to finish the task in time for the opening of classes yesterday.

Daluz said they will tap private contractors to hasten the work. The school board identified 40 more school buildings in the city that need additional emergency exits.

This include the Zapatera Elementary School, Mabolo Elementary School and the City Central School among others.

“We have to be prepared. With last year’s 7.2-magnitude earthquake which hit Cebu and the recent tremors, we have become a calamity-prone area,” Labella said.