By Marjorie Gorospe
QUEZON CITY, METRO MANILA-A bill filed in Congress seeks to require the government to conduct annual inspection of public and private school buildings to ensure stability during disasters and natural calamities.
House Bill 4605, authored by former President and now Pampanga District Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, further mandates the government to conduct the inspection at the beginning of every school year.
The inspection will find out whether the structural integrity of the school building has the capacity to withstand earthquakes and typhoons and other similar natural occurrences will be taken into account.
Aside from the structure, proper ventilation, lighting and the availability of the comfort rooms that can accommodate the number of students attending the classes, will also be included in the inspection.
According to Arroyo, the inspection would serve as a preventive measure to minimize, if not to totally avoid accidents in the future. She added that the inspection does not have to be additional expenses because the government can use existing local government resources.
The bill, co-authored by Camarines Sur Representative Diosdado Arroyo, further mandates the city or municipal engineer and building officials to submit a comprehensive report disclosing their findings and recommendations.
The mandatory inspection will be conducted at least 45 days prior to the start of every school year.
Any designated or concerned official who refuse to act on the report or recommendation will get a jail term of 6 months to 2 years and a fine ranging from P10,000 to P100,000 or both. The official will also be disqualified from holding public office.
A report released by the Department of Education earlier this year citedstructural defects in over 80 percent of schools from the inspection conducted in May to April 2010. The report revealed that 588 buildings were found to have structural defects, which vary from damage to walls and ceilings to even instability of building foundations from the 685 schools inspected nationwide.
It also revealed that 671 school buildings had structural defects from the total of 799 school buildings inspected.
