MISAMIS ORIENTAL (January 27) —-Horrified and traumatised, this how learners of  Linangkayan Elementary School in Linangkayan, Naawan,  felt as their still unfinished covered gym collapsed minutes after they returned to their classrooms from the morning recess on Friday January 25.
The incident prompted school authorities and Barangay leaders to suspend classes, as children trembled and cried seeing their gym dropped to the ground with two construction workers on top of the roof.
School Teacher Lorry Dandasan said she heard the noise of G.I sheets swinging and when she peeped on her classroom window, she saw the building gym quickly falling on the ground.
“It happened so quick, just seconds. It was so scary, what if it happened during the recess, children used to stay there and have their merienda! they play at the gym, It was an accident but it was good enough, children were inside classrooms already when it happened.”
The workers were immediately brought to the hospital. One of them suffered a broken leg.
The contractor, Dy Construction, started the work last July of 2018 and is due for completion this month.
The structure
According to Linangkayan Barangay Chairman Ramon Leoter the said facility is a project of the provincial government through the Special Education Funds (SEF) worth 2.3 million pesos.
“From the start, I already questioned because the posts are too small. I said ‘why are those post small’? The workers answered, ‘that is in the plan’. I said the engineer is crazy,” Leotero said in an interview.
The girders and the trusses were still not installed when the incident happened.
A call for investigation
Dr. Ric Gabi, Public Schools District Supervisor of Naawan, said he will request the municipal engineer’s office to conduct assessment and investigation on the incident.
“We are not engineers, we don’t have the technical expertise to evaluate and asses what went wrong, so, we really cannot tell if the materials are sub-standard better that the municipal engineer will investigate on it,” Gabe said.
The school management will also invite the contractor for a dialogue with the barangay council to discuss how to remedy the situation and avoid the same incident in the future, since children are traumatised.
Leotero also said he will ask the provincial government to investigate the incident because it is their project. –Divina M. Suson
