CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY — The vaunted accomplishments in education of the city’s former administration may be a tall tale after all.

Radio exposes, and a subsequent special report by Councilor Imee Moreno on the unused 42-classroom, four-story building in Cugman National High School may have opened a can of worms on how the massive construction of classrooms from 2014 to 2022 rolled out.

Fastlanes got a list of school building projects and classrooms built during that period from the Local School Board (LSB). The long list looked good: eight elementary school buildings with a total of 178 classrooms; and 24 high school buildings with a total of 517 classrooms. One four stories school building project with 44 classrooms has been listed as ongoing despite reports of its completion. All in all, these consisted of 739 classrooms.

The school building that has caught the attention of the media and the city councilor is one of the 24 high school buildings built during the administration of ironically her father.

Photos of the ceremonial turnover of the Cugman High School Building surfaced on social media. Records showed the turnover happened on June 24, 2022, or six days before erstwhile political allies former mayor Oscar Moreno turned over the city to Mayor Rolando “Klarex” Uy.

According to Dr. Alice Anghay, chairperson of the Local School Board (LSB), the turnover of these projects to DepEd presupposes that the projects are complete and the classrooms ready for use by students.

An investigation by the LSB found that while the civil works for the building were inspected and certified complete, it could not be used because it lacked an electricity connection, water system, chairs, and other classroom fixtures. The access road to the secluded site of the Cugman National High School extension has not been finished. The LSB has already allocated funds for the fence, electrical connection, water system, chairs, and other classroom fixtures, and commits to finish these by December this year.

Hold on to your seats, Dr. Anghay said all the the  33 school building projects from 2014 to 2022 have no Building Permits. The Puerto National High School project consisting of 4 stories with 44 classrooms, according to the LSB head has been reclassified as “ongoing” even if it had already been turned over to DepEd, and presumed complete. It turned out that the project, like the one in Cugman, had no blackboards, unpainted, no water system, and no electricity. It doesn’t even have a flag pole.

Former mayor Moreno’s reelection campaigns in 2016 and 2019 heavily banked on the number of classrooms his administration built. When he ran for governor of Misamis Oriental in 2022, he boosted building around a thousand school buildings.

While Mayor Klarex Uy continued his predecessor’s education program, he instituted changes. Now he requires all projects to secure a Building Permit. And turn these school facilities to the DepEd only when an Occupancy Permit has been issued and the buildings are complete with chairs and other classroom fixtures, boards, power, water, internet, and audio-visual facilities.

Until the media and the lady councilor came out with the Cugman school building issue, the administration of Mayor Klarex Uy was busy looking for resources to remedy the shortfalls of the previous administration’s projects.

According to the Building Code of the Philippines, all building constructions need a Building Permit, and once it is done, an Occupancy Permit is required before use. The mayor issues these permits. An occupancy Permit can only be issued after the building passes stringent safety standards. The Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) for example, requires a Fire Safety Inspection Certificate (FSIC). And sans this FSIC, the mayor is precluded from issuing an Occupancy Permit.

The LSB in a meeting today vowed “to rectify the lack of Building and Occupancy Permits for the school buildings and classroom projects of the previous administration.

“Moreover, the ‘Tatak Klarex’ school and classroom building projects will only be turned over to the DepEd when ready for occupancy.”