Just another day for students of Obujan Tagibaas Elementary School in Antiquera, Bohol. (CDN PHOTO/LITO TECSON)
Uncertainty over their safety continue to haunt a public elementary school in an upland barangay in Antequera town, Bohol.
Aside from safety, the teachers and students are also complained of heat for holding classes inside tents and makeshift classrooms.
The other temporary row of classrooms however was made up of “nipa” and “amakan”. Though much cooler than tarpaulin tents, the roofs tend to fly off whenever it rains.
The place where their school used to stand and had been temporarily rebuilt is right beside a deep mound whom residents consider as a “sinkhole”.
“Mangadyi lang mi ani permi. Karon bitaw among students nag rosary, kuyawan mi permi uy… unja unsaon man namo, wa mi kapaingnan,” said Grade 5 teacher Nimfa Ayco, who has been teaching at the school for several years already.
(We always pray with our students to allay our fears…we are helpless, we have nowhere to go.)
For this month of the Holy Rosary, the students say prayers everyday. Their hope is to keep themselves safe from harm in case an earthquake strikes again.
Ubujan-Tagubaas Elementary school, whose current population is 145, sits on a government lot on the edge of a hill. The lot was leveled off by bulldozers after the quake.
However, the Mines and Geosciences Bureau has not recommended the same site for the school since the soil may also loosen and could collapse like the nearby lot where an entire family perished during the quake.
During the Oct. 15 earthquake, a lot located at the back of the school collapsed to a hundred meters deep.
An entire house was swallowed killing the family that lived there. Today, the site has a white concrete cross while the house can still be viewed below. Curious onlookers still frequent the site to take pictures.
Photos of the entire family was also placed on the site with a message from relatives posted on a coconut tree thanking people for the help they received after the tragedy.
But the school does not consider the site as a tourist destination but a threat to their safety. Following the earthquake last year, the school was temporarily transferred to a private lot. They however needed to return to the old site since the owner wanted to increase rent for the lot.
The Department of Education has promised to construct a new building for the school.
The school officials however had to heed the parents’ request who asked them not to transfer to another site as it is too far from their homes.
There are only seven classrooms in the school for the 145 students.
The access to the school is only one unpaved road as the entire lot is bounded by cliffs. Prior to the quake, they had 152 students. The rest died during the quake.
When asked how the school will have a safer site, Ayco answered: We really do not know.