Gwen hits delay in construction

CEBU, Philippines — The Department of Education (DepEd) has reported a massive amount of backlogs in the construction of public school classrooms all over the Province of Cebu.

In yesterday's monthly meeting, the Provincial School Board has discussed the state of the construction of public classrooms in Cebu.

Engr. April Custodio, Engineer III of DepEd Cebu, reported that only 62 have been completed of the planned 657 classrooms for Calendar Year 2019.

She added that the failure to complete the 595 classrooms could be partially attributed to the slow pace of contractors.

For those projects in 2019, 22 out of 82 classrooms are still under procurement.

Governor Gwen Garcia, who stands as the co-chairperson of the School Board, has questioned DepEd’s process of verifying the construction proposals for these classrooms.

While Custodio explained that DepEd bases it on the needs of the school, Garcia said that the area of the lot to where buildings are to be constructed on must also be considered.

“You have to look at the actual site. Mao bitaw nang validation, kay bisan pang baynte ka classroom ang kinahanglan unya ang nahabilin na lang nga yuta nga wa matabuni ug building 10 square meters na lang, asa man na ibutang sa hangin,” Garcia said.

The governor also suggested that DepEd establish a closer coordination with the local government units and to have an “honest to goodness” validation of school sites.

Custodio has requested for the Department of Public Works and Highways to expedite the construction process and to exclude the current contractor from the list of prospective bidders in the year 2020.

She said that the same problem has been recurring from the same contractor since 2016.

She also emphasized that the delay was not brought upon the identification and verification process of school sites. – GAN (FREEMAN)