No DepEd answer yet on no classes request

CEBU, Philippines - The Archdiocese of Cebu is still waiting for a response from the Department of Education-7 on the request to possibly suspend classes during the International Eucharistic Congress that Cebu is hosting January next year.

Auxiliary Bishop Dennis Villarojo told reporters yesterday that there had been initial talks with DepEd as to the request for the cancellation of classes to help decongest the streets for the duration of the IEC.

“There is no official response yet. We had initial communication with (DepEd-7 Director) Juliet Jeruta for the suspension of classes in public schools and hopefully also for the private schools (to adopt our request),” said Villarojo, the 51st IEC secretary-general, when interviewed after a conference yesterday at the Cebu City Hall.

Another collaborative meeting was held to discuss preparations for the IEC with concerned stakeholders such as the Cebu City Transportation Office and Cebu City Police Office, among others.

In a separate interview, Jeruta said their office asked for recommendations from several school authorities on which schools where classes would have to be suspended.

“May request nga sila at nabigyan namin ng lunas. Naghingi kami ng recommendations from different school heads on which areas from Cebu City, Lapu-Lapu City and Mandaue City na pwede ma-cancel ang classes for five days to decongest traffic,” she said.

Jeruta said they have to discern first which schools will most likely be affected by activities related to the IEC before she can issue a memorandum on the suspension of classes.

“Baka lahat magsuspende ng klase nila and baka pati ang mga schools na nasa bundok mag-suspend na rin. Tingin namin dito, dapat affected schools lang ang advised to have their classes suspended,” she said.

“Hinihintay namin ‘yan (recommendations) before magbigay ng memorandum para na rin sa mga affected schools to do their plans in coming up with make-up classes for those five days na suspended ang klase.” she added.

Suspension of classes was one of the measures eyed by the Cebu Archdiocese to ease traffic congestion during the IEC activities, which would be held in different venues.

“We are continuing to iron out the details of the traffic plan and also of the security preparations),” said Villarojo.

CCTO, for its part, had been finalizing already the proposed IEC traffic scheme.

Following the dry-run held on November 22 along Pope John Paul II Avenue in Barangay Mabolo, Cebu City, it was recommended that information dissemination for private motorists should be improved and better signage should be installed.

CCTO also saw the need to review the bus route scheme in Lapu-Lapu City and coordination between the traffic enforcement agencies of Mandaue City and Lapu-Lapu City to reduce delay.  — (FREEMAN)