TABUK CITY – Opening of classes here in the city of Tabuk starts peacefully despite some problems encountered during its preparation.
Frances Gacuya, a member of the social mobilization and school governance operation division who conducted monitoring of some schools in Tabuk City, reports the majority of schools, both elementary and secondary, are still having their Brigada Eskwela while enrollment is going on. Gacuya explained that most of the schools they visited are not yet done with their Brigada Eskwela since many of their buildings are still undergoing temporary repairs after it was devastated by Typhoon Lawin last November 2017.
She added that supervisors have been distributed in geographic clusters to make it easier and more convenient for them in conducting monitoring and evaluation.
On the other hand, Engineer Paul Palliso, division engineer of DepEd Tabuk City division is looking into possibility of blacklisting the contractors of some school buildings of Tabuk City National High School, San Juan Elementary School and Bayabat Elementary School as most of the ceiling trusses and roofing of said building were damaged by Typhoon Lawin within the defect liability period.
Palliso said that a defect liability period is the period of time after the completion of a construction project during which the contractor has to return to the site to remedy defects which is set for 12 months after project completion.
Further, Palliso reports they are now validating reports and recommendations for the blacklisting of contractors of said projects since they did not bother to appear despite consecutive notices sent to them.
Based on the inspection, about 40 schools in the jurisdiction of Tabuk City incurred damages when Typhoon Lawin devastated province of Kalinga last November 2016.
Damages occurred because of substandard materials used. At least 90 percent of them were repaired and used this school year. Special education funds are also ready to finance several structures particularly school stages and bleachers for 6 schools in the city including Magabbangon Elementary School, Nambucayan Elementary School, Gradual Discovery Elementary School, Agbannawag National High School, Tabuk City National High School and Bulo East Elementary School which will be given 70,000 pesos each as a fund to repair said school facilities. This is a part of P1.5 million proposed funding of DepeEd Tabuk City for the repairs of infrastructures damaged by Typhoon Lawin.
By Jesse Maguiya
