Catholic schools’ group: Students’ safety our top concern

A girl peeks out from under the umbrella of her mother who is checking out the list of qualified enrollees at the H. J. Atienza Elementary School in Baseco Compound, Tondo, Manila on Sunday, a day before the start of classes.  NIÑO JESUS ORBETA

Amid renewed fears of a possible major earthquake in Metro Manila, an official of the Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines (CEAP) has said that schools under the organization were generally compliant with safety infrastructure standards.

“The security and safety of our students are primary issues for our schools, whether they straddle the fault line or not,” Anthony Coloma, CEAP’s advocacy and information management officer, told reporters on Saturday.

“Our schools are generally compliant with the accepted standards of safety in our infrastructures,” he added.

Coloma also said that their member-schools regularly conducted fire and earthquake drills to ensure that teachers, students and other school personnel would know what to do should an emergency arise.  “But having said that, we continue to pray that no catastrophe would fall on or shake our land,” he told reporters.

CEAP is the biggest organized group of Catholic schools with over 1,250 member-institutions nationwide. Around 700 of its members are mission schools offering basic education to the country’s poor and marginalized.

Earlier, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) made public a detailed map of the 100-kilometer West Valley Fault that traverses Metro Manila and the provinces of Bulacan, Laguna, Rizal and Cavite.

The map identified barangays (villages), subdivisions, schools and other structures located on top of the active fault line which can generate a 7.2-magnitude temblor.

Among the schools identified on the danger zone were Barangka Elementary School in Marikina, Tibagan Elementary School in Makati City, Anne Claire Montessori in Taguig City, E. Pedro Diaz High School and Alabang Elementary School in Muntinlupa City.