Maasin, Southern Leyte

CLASSROOMS IN BACTUL-I PRIMARY SCHOOL, MAASIN, SO. LEYTE

We arrived at Maasin for an inspection of the existing classrooms in Bactul-I Primary School.

The classrooms were built in January 2007 by the contractor of the Federation of Filipino Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Inc. (FFCCCII) through the Classrooms Galing sa Mamamayan Pilipino Abroad (CGMA), a joint project of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), Department for Foreign Affairs (DFA) and Department of Education and Cultural Services (DECS) and were inaugurated on March 16, 2007 by the donor, Eleanor Credo-Lindner and FtH volunteers Pablito and Tessie. It was reported about a year ago that the glass on the windows were breaking by itself and numerous cracks on the walls were noticed. These classrooms were revisited this Feb 19, 2010 in conjunction with another inspection of a water system in Bontoc, a nearby town of Southern Leyte.

After getting lost and asking for directions twice, we arrived at Bactul-I Primary School to the welcoming committee of the students and faculty. The family of Eleonor was on hand to greet us and Diego, the brother, had a local contractor to estimate the damage and repair of the classrooms. YES, there were several cracks on the walls, some glass on the jalousies were missing and one end wall has exposed foundations due to erosion cause by running water when it rains since it was built on a lower elevation. The school built a ditch to intercept the running water in front of the building but maybe too late, too short, to prevent further erosion of the foundation. If the classrooms were built according to the specification of the DECS, as required in the Memorandum of Agreement between FtH, CFO and CGMA, there should have been no problem with the classrooms. But we were told during the inauguration in 2007 that the construction materials and labor were transported all the way from Tacloban, about 4 hours away, and the building was completed in 2 weeks.

As usual, after the inspection, we were treated to some snacks and we bid goodbye to the students, faculty and family of Eleonor. The faculty also requested the provision of electrical and lighting system of the classrooms. We got an estimate from the local contractor. Before we left Maasin, we were treated to dinner by Governor Mercado of Southern Leyte. We got back in Tacloban around 6PM, before sundown, as scheduled.

Upon arrival in Manila, we requested our partner, CFO, to request assistance from the Southern Leyte Provincial Engineer’s office to investigate the construction of the classroom, if according to the standards of the DECS and for action against the contractor, if found defective.

February 23, 2010