Some defective school furniture still that way

CEBU, Philippines - Five months after The FREEMAN broke a story on substandard school furniture worth P17-million distributed to the different public elementary and high schools in Cebu Province, the contractors of the furniture have not completely rectified some defects, contrary to the claims of officials of the Department of Education-Cebu Province.

The FREEMAN visited more than ten public elementary and high schools in the northern towns of Cebu and observed that the contractors still failure to comply with specifications set by the Department of Education during the bidding.

A teacher’s table should have three handles based on the specifications, but the teacher’s tables in San Jose Elementary School in Barangay San Jose in Borbon town still lack a handle.

Although, teachers claimed that representatives of Gala Industries Corp. visited the school, they only replaced the nails of the children’s chairs with wooden screws.

The top boards of some teacher’s and children’s tables at the Doña Milagros Osmeña Elementary School in barangay Lugo, Borbon, have also been left unrepaired.

“Ila naman unta nga gitapakan apan makita gihapon ang lungag sa lamesa,” a public school teacher said. It was not clear if the contractor use the specified marine plywood for the tables.

At Caduawan Elementary School, barangay Caduawan, Tabogon town, teachers confirmed that the contractors made changed the metal nails to wooden screws in the student’s chairs but a Grade 3 pupil was reportedly injured by a wooden screw fitted improperly.

The workers reportedly used the electricity of the school to carry out their repairs and only paid a measly P300. — Jose P. Sollano/BRP (THE FREEMAN)