Teachers, students told: Report classroom defects

Teachers and students in towns hit by supertyphoon Yolanda in northern Cebu should report defects in classrooms that were built as part of the storm recovery program, the province’s rehabilitation coordination said.

This came after a team from  the province’s Task Force Paglig-on recently verified a complaint that a classroom of the Kawit Elementary School in Medellin town had hairline cracks on its walls and ceiling.

Task force  chief Baltazar Tribunalo said it was a teacher who complainted about the defects.

“The finishing was of poor quality and I’m not happy about it,” he told Cebu Daily News yesterday.

“Dili lang gyud unta ta modawat lang (We shouldn’t just accept anything). They say, ‘beggars can’t be choosers,’ but that’s wrong. There has to be a dignified way,” he said.

Tribunalo told reporters that this was the first time that complaints on post-Yolanda government projects were brought to his attention.

No serious concern

Medellin Mayor Ricardo Ramirez said he raised this concern to the management of  Rovillos Construction, the project’s contractor, in a meeting  the other day.

Ramirez said the contractor assured him that they will correct the defects , within the week.

The mayor said he was told that the  cracks on the walls are not of serious concern while the  leaks on the ceiling are just normal.

“(Villaceran) has a word of honor. I know him from  long way back. He’s been working with DPWH on projects here in the town and with the province as well,” Ramirez said.

The mayor said he believes  politics was behind the issue.

Ramirez said the teachers who complained about the classroom defects could have addressed their complaints  to his office.

“They knew the project was not done by the LGU. They could have come to me. Why go to the province?” he asked.

Although the DPWH spearheaded the classroom project, Ramirez said the Department of Education (DepEd) is the one handling school affairs.

The mayor said  it wouldn’t hurt if the provincial government office coordinated with the municipal government instead.

“They never inform us about anything. Not new hires, new school buildings, not even the need for repairs,” he said.

So far, the mayor said this was the first complaint that reached his office.

Ramirez said he was frustrated by the fact that he learned about it through the media just a few days ago.

Medellin, one of the towns devastated by supertyphoon Yolanda in northern Cebu in November last year, has 19 elementary schools and five high schools, all of which have been repaired.