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Thursday, November 17, 2005
Part of school ceiling falls, injures parent-volunteer
By Jovy S. Taghoy
Sun.Star Staff Reporter
A PARENT-VOLUNTEER was hurt when a rotten portion of a plywood ceiling of a feeding center inside Zapatera Elementary School suddenly collapsed shortly before 155 selected pupils were about to take their lunch yesterday.
Tessie Batong, 32, got a bruise on the right shoulder, a scratch on the left arm and a swelling on the left portion in the head after a piece of plywood fell on her and two pupils who were sitting right below the collapsed ceiling.
The pupils were unhurt but were covered in dust.
The school’s administration headed by principal Luz Jandayan, however, is not taking chances and is planning to have Amoguis undergo an X-ray test as she complained of back pains.
The feeding center is on the ground floor of the century-old Gabaldon-type building located at the interior portion of the school.
The second floor of the building has been used as classrooms.
The accident happened five months after Cebu City Councilor Edgardo Labella sponsored a resolution asking the Department of Education to check the structural integrity of all Gabaldon buildings since most wood may already be decrepit, posing hazard to students and teachers.
Labella lamented that despite the possible danger it poses, Gabaldon-type and other old buildings made of wood are still being used because of lack of funds in the education department.
More than a century ago, Rep. Isauro Gabaldon sponsored a law allocating P1 million for the construction of elementary schools all over the country. These buildings are referred to as Gabaldon buildings.
Labella drafted the resolution after 30 students in San Fernando, Pampanga were hurt when a 74-year-old Gabaldon building collapsed early this year.
In 2001, two students were also injured in Toledo City when the ceiling of their 87-year-old Gabaldon-style classroom collapsed while they were having classes.
Cebu City Schools Superintendent Leonilo Oliva and engineers Arman Abapo and Constantino Rances of the DepEd physical facilities went to Zapatera assess the situation.
Oliva considered the incident yesterday as “isolated and unpredictable.”
Batong, interviewed at the school, said that when she noticed the ceiling was about to fall, she grabbed the two pupils but they did not manage to run away.
“I just bowed my head and most of the ceiling hit me,” Batong said. She is one of the parents who volunteered to help cook food for the 155 pupils selected from among 2,800 students to benefit the feeding project initiated by nongovernment organizations.
Jandayan, in a separate interview, said she did not expect the ceiling to collapse because it was not even among the portions recommended for repair.
Last June, a portion of the ceiling at the feeding center was replaced because it was already rotten.
Jandayan believes the dust that piled up in the ceiling may have also contributed to the accident.
She decided that the daily feeding will be held at the school gymnasium until the ceiling of the feeding center will be fixed.
The feeding center has been slated for repair, including new flooring.
Oliva said that the last time the building was rehabilitated was in 1994.
He also said DepEd Cebu City conducts periodic checkups on all schools in the city to ensure the structures are safe for the students and teachers.
(November 17, 2005 issue)
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