2 NAGA SCHOOLS ABANDONED

City government orders the schools to be abandoned for being in close proximity to the landslide area

Two public schools in the City of Naga have been abandoned by school officials and students after these were found to be in close proximity to where the landslide occurred in the City last week.

Since last Friday, City of Naga school officials have ordered administrators of the Mainit El- ementary and National High Schools to evacuate their students to other schools.

More than 800 students of the two schools will have to attend classes in other schools in the city until the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) will declare that it is safe for them to return.

Jose Mahilum, caretaker of the two schools, said that after the landslide on Thursday last week, school officials had to send home their students and order them to evacuate following orders from Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu to evacuate areas withflooding.

More than 800 students of the two schools will have to attend classes in other schools in the city until the Department of Environment and Natural Resources will declare that it is safe for them to return.

in the one-kilometer radius of Ground Zero.

Since last week up to yesterday, only teachers returned to the school, Mahilum said.

Dr. Gregorio Cyrus Elejorde, City of Naga Schools Division superintendent, told SunStar Cebu that originally, four schools were recommended to be abandoned temporarily after these were found to be situated within the one-kilometer radius of Ground Zero.

Aside from the two schools in Barangay Mainit, CEPOC Central Elementary School and Tina-an National High School, both in Barangay Tina-an, were also recommended for abandonment.

But upon the recommendation of the Incident Command Office earlier this week, CEPOC Central Elementary School and Tina-an National High School were ordered to resume classes starting today as they were found to be far from the landslide area in Sitios Tagaytay and Sindulan.

One of the two schools was also used as an evacuation site, Elejorde said.

The 800 students from Barangay Mainit will be transferred to public schools where their families are temporarily relocated, Elejorde said. /