COA questions contractor’s corrective measures for defective school building

THE Commission On Audit(COA) questioning the measures contractor MSDLR plans to put in place to fix defective school buildings in Cebu City.

Allan Gajudo, COA engineer said metal girdles that MSDLR will install on the shaky two-story classroom in barangay Toong might destroy the appearance of the edifice.

The thick long metal girdle will cross the floor and destroy the “beauty of the school building.”

Gajudo said the city should review the contractor’s plan.

“They might just make it a Band-Aid building.”

The second floor of the building with six classrooms was found defective by Department of Engineering and Public Works (DEPW) personnel.

DEPW also found structural defects in seven other Cebu City classrooms.

These are Sirao Integrated School, Buhisan Elementary School, Busay Elementary School, Don Vicente Rama High School and Elementary School, Sibugay Integrated School, Hipodromo Elementary School and Sinsin Elementary School.

MSDLR, a contractor based in Zamboanga del Sur, promised to install metal girdles on the first floor to stop the vibration of the school building.

Councilor Roberto Cabarrubias, head of the City Council’s infrastructure committee told Cebu Daily News, that he instructed the contractor to cover the metal girdles so that these won’t distract students.

“They really have to spend on it because they did not build the school building well in the first place,” he said.

MSDLR also built the third floor of the Toong barangay hall that was reported to vibrate.

The DEPW will inspect the barangay hall this week to examine the alleged defects.

Manuel Caliagan, project director of MSDLR said that they are willing to correct the defects.

He however said they have yet to submit their plans to DEPW.

He said they would have started their installing corrective measures last week but the DEPW said they should submit their report first for review.