Student ponders future after Sambag 2 fire

SHAQUILLE Lyza Orillo had only a few days left to finish her requirements for graduation but last Sunday dawn’s fire at her home in barangay Sambag II changed all that.

Orillo is among the 10 graduating students affected by the fire. She is scheduled to march and get her diploma next Thursday, March 21. Unfortunately her school clearance and projects were destroyed in the fire.

“It happened so fast I didn’t think of recovering my projects and requirements because I only thought of survival,” Orillo said in Cebuano. She said she was asleep before the fire broke out.

She said she failed to attend classes because she wanted to secure whatever belongings her family had salvaged from the fire. “I can’t say I’m ready to face classes because my situation is complicated now,” Orillo said.

A staffer of the Ramon Duterte Memorial National High School called up Orillo to assure her that she will be exempted from completing her school requirements because of the fire. Orillo said she wants to take up psychology in one of Cebu City’s top schools.

She said she’s holding on to the results of the Cebu City Government Scholarship exam that she applied for before the fire hit her house.

For now, Shaquille and her family slept in a bed made of bamboo at what remained of their burned house because they don’t want to stay at the congested barangay Maharlika gym.  Sambag II barangay Captain Carl Stephen Belarmino said the financial assistance given by the city’s legislators is being processed.

Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama also gave financial assistance for the victims. Correspondent Christine Emily L. Pantaleon