ILOILO – A health official here on Monday is urging the Department of Education to temporarily close Botongon Elementary School while the clean-up of oil spill in Estancia is still ongoing.
Regional Epidemiologist Dr. Glen Alonsabe of the Department of Health-Center for Health Development Western Visayas recommended this during the meeting of Power Barge 103 Oil Spill Task Force held at the Provincial Capitol.
Alonsabe stressed that no classes or any other academic and extra-curricular activities must be held in the school since the building lies within the 20-meter danger zone.
“We cannot compromise the safety of the pupils and teachers working in the school. Better close the school and transfer the class in other areas,” Alonsabe said.
He also suggested if the pupils affected can be absorbed for the meantime by Estancia Central School.
But Executive Director Jerry Bionat of the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council objected for he assailed that it will be more inconvenient for the pupils.
Estancia Central School is about 1.5-kilometer away from Botongon Elementary School, he said.
Some parents and teachers of Botongon Elementary School previously went to the Governor Arthur Defensor Sr.’s office and narrate the discomfort they, including their pupils, have experienced from oil spill.
“They told me that they could not withstand the foul fumes coming from oil spill and most of them were worried that this situation could develop to various respiratory problems among their children in the future,” Defensor lamented.
“DOH already made recommendation that the school be closed until Estancia is totally free from oil spill. Now, it is the DepEd’s problem,” the governor noted adding that the provincial government will extend technical support.
When asked of their plan, Iloilo Schools Division Supt. Dr. Myrna Castillo told the task force that they will most likely close the school and transfer classes in make shift tents in Northern Iloilo Polytechnic State College in Estancia.
Meanwhile, Lt. Commander Dominador P. Senador III of the Philippine Coast Guard Western Visayas reported that there are still 300 sacks of oiled debris and 1,000 liters of contaminated bunker fuel left in Estancia.
Also, the 378 drums of contaminated bunker fuel and 60 tons of oiled debris in the container yard in Lapuz, Iloilo City, which have been there for over two weeks, are still waiting for shipment to Metro Manila.
In response, Kuan Yu Global Technologies Inc. Operations Manager Nico Dadis explained that their truck, which will supposed to pick-up the newly collected oiled debris in Estancia, encountered problems last week.
But Dadis assured the task force that they will remove these pollutants either today (January 13) or tomorrow (January 14). (Jezza A. Nepomoceno/Capitol News)
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