Mayor Ondo inaugurates rehabilitated school facilities in San Juan

Mayor Edward C. Codilla and DepEd Ormoc Supt. Mariza S. Magan cut the ceremonial ribbon inaugurating the newly rehabilitated classroom, principal’s office (behind them) and stage at San Juan Elementary School. Also in photo are Principal Juanito B. Cabonce; Eileen Ipulan, Disaster Risk-Reduction and Resiliency-Building and Emergency Assistance Mission program coordinator of Balay Mindanaw; and Asunta Dorothy Charles, country director of Johanniter International Assistance.

ONE year and four months after bearing the brunt of typhoon Yolanda, San Juan Elementary School is now spruced up with reconstructed buildings and manicured lawns, thanks to the help of non-government organizations (NGO) that are helping the barangay get up on its feet.

Last Mar. 24, Balay Mindanaw Foundation Inc. turned over rehabilitated structures consisting of a classroom/computer room, principal’s office and school stage that were funded by Johanniter International Assistance and the City of Vienna. Johanniter Country Director Asunta Dorothy Charles said the turned over school structures are just among the projects worth €48,000 undertaken by their organization in the barangay.

Other projects are the reconstruction of the barangay hall, health awareness training and the upcoming installation of sky hydrants in four sitios. A sky hydrant is an Australian technology purifier that draws water from any source and turns it into potable quality.

The rehabilitation of the classroom cum computer room is timely considering that information technology equipment from the Education Department worth more than P168,000 was delivered to the school last Mar. 19. The items consist of six desktop computers complete with accessories, a notebook computer, two projectors, two white screens, a multimedia speaker set, networking peripherals, etc.

Based in Cagayan de Oro City, Balay Mindanaw works for peace-building in conflict-ridden Mindanao. It came to Ormoc to conduct post-disaster relief, rehabilitation and recovery operations after typhoon Yolanda struck the city on Nov. 8, 2013. Its partnership with Brgy. San Juan began on its fourth day of stay in Ormoc.

San Juan is the last barangay in the eastern part 15 kms. from downtown Ormoc. The newly elected barangay officials trooped to City Hall to ask for help. Incidentally, Balay Mindanaw’s Quick Assessment Team was there in search of partner communities that are severely affected by Yolanda and were yet to receive aid.

It was the beginning of a year-long partnership between the barangay and NGO. The following week, 775 food packs were distributed to families while shelter repair kits were given to 520 households. Johanitter gave wheelchairs to eight persons with disabilities from six sitios.

San Juan also benefitted from a medical mission by Johanniter’s Medical Emergency Response Team and volunteer of Philippine Nurses Association Misamis Oriental chapter. Other donors came to provide construction materials to help the residents rebuild their homes.

The construction supplies proved to be more than enough for households that the barangay officials decided to use the excess materials to fix the damaged community facilities. The roofs of six churches and a new fully-functional tanod outpost benefited from the spare materials.

“The cement used was a leftover from the classroom construction of Save the Children (another NGO),” Barangay Chairman Efrenia Cantero said, pointing to an unfinished building that would be a daycare center. “The plywood and the galvanized iron sheets are from Johanniter and Balay Mindanaw.”

 
The rehabilitation of the barangay facilities are far from being finished though, considering what was done is merely patchwork. One old classroom in the school has not been reconstructed while the Barangay Hall is still roofless.