DepEd-Bohol now needs billions of pesos in funds

TAGBILARAN CITY, Philippines – Regular classes in Bohol are slated to resume on November 5 after three weeks of suspension of classes in the province, following the the magnitude-7.2 earthquake that struck the province on Oct. 15.

However, the Department of Education (DepEd) of Bohol badly needed more than a billion in pesos of fresh funds to erect new school buildings and repair those destroyed by the earthquake, according to Dr. Wilfreda Bongalos, provincial schools superintendent in a radio program here.

DepEd said it needs some P770 million for reconstruction of new school buildings for over 800 classrooms, which will cost an estimated more than P480 million and the repairs that will entail over P170 million in funds.

The Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (PDRRMC) said the earthquake devastation caused more than P5 billion was incurred in damages to infrastructure, private houses, government buildings and facilities and centuries-old churches.

Damages to infrastructure, such as roads and bridges, also incurred P2.2 billion, destruction to private establishments and old churches was worth over P1.4 billion, while those of government buildings, such as municipal halls, hospitals and equipment was pegged at over P800 million, the PDRRMC report said.

The PDRRMC also said that more than 50,000 private houses, and still counting, have been damaged, and 400,000 of the 1.2 million population has been adversely affected by the quake devastation.