Msgr. Pedro Quitorio. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
An official of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) on Sunday said that proponents of a measure to move the school opening from June to September must only remember the wrath of Typhoons “Ondoy” and “Pedring” to change their minds.
Msgr. Pedro Quitorio, CBCP media director, pointed out that Ondoy and Pedring both pummeled the country in the month of September.
Ondoy dumped massive rains on Metro Manila on Sept. 26, 2009, causing flashfloods that swallowed up entire villages and left 464 people dead.
Pedring, a fiercer storm, buffeted the country’s eastern coast last week, causing massive floods and destruction and forcing schools to shut down and thousands to flee their homes.
“Typhoons are stronger around this time of the year so it would be harder for students if their classes begin in September,” said Quitorio.
In an earlier interview, Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas also opposed moving the opening of classes to September, saying it was not a good idea since climate change was already happening.
The onset of the rainy season, which usually begins in June, has changed to a later month just as the cold spell now appears to occur two months later than December, said Villegas.
Villegas, chair of the Catholic Bishops’ Episcopal Commission on Catechesis and Catholic Education, said he doubted that such a move would achieve its objective of reducing the number of times classes are suspended due to typhoons.
Senator Franklin Drilon, committee on finance chairman, and its vice chairman Senator Edgardo Angara had earlier urged Education Secretary Armin Luistro to seriously consider proposals to move the opening of classes to September.
Both senators said it could help lessen the disruption of classes due to storms. In some public schools, the suspension of classes is usually extended because classrooms are used as evacuation centers for people rendered homeless by typhoons. Jocelyn R. Uy