North Cebu classrooms need P800M

CEBU, Philippines - Almost P800 million is needed before all Yolanda-battered schools in Northern Cebu are completely repaired or replaced and ready for use.

Department of Education (DepEd) Field Supervisor Victor Yntig said they came up with the figure after DepEd employees and administrators, assisted by field engineers, conducted a rapid assessment in the area.

Bogo City alone needs P93.55 million to fix all of its school buildings that the Nov. 8 super typhoon severely damaged.

The city has 94 classrooms that have to be replaced while 165 need repairs. 

The other Northern Cebu towns affected by Yolanda need P699.22 million to replace 359 classrooms and repair 1,809 more.

A separate estimate was done for Bogo, being the lone city with a DepEd division independent from the DepEd-Provincial Division.

In a press briefing yesterday, DepEd-7 announced that the central office has allotted P800 million from its Quick Response Fund (QRF), which is enough to rehabilitate all affected schools.

USAID’s Basa Pilipinas chief of party Marcial Salvatiera also said they have extended P10 million worth of assistance to Yolanda-hit areas in the form of school supplies, distributing 17,000 student kits composed of school supplies inside backpacks.

Of the 17,000 school kits, 5,000 were given away in Northern Cebu. The same organization also handed 775 plastic boxes containing school supplies to teachers.

The Department of Public Works and Highways-7, through spokesperson Marie Nillama, said P4 million from their quick response budget was used to build five units of bunkhouses comprising 12 rooms in Barangay Can-untong in Ormoc City. (FREEMAN)