DUMAGUETE CITY–Teachers of the Mabinay National High School have appealed to the global community through Facebook for funds to help rebuild their school, which was gutted by fire on the eve of the school’s graduation day.
Arnold Benitez, a teacher at the Mabinay National High School, started the appeal on his Facebook page, where he also posted pictures of the burned building. “We will surely go back to zero,” he said, as he also lamented the loss of the school’s computer room, library, principal’s office and the band equipment.
The fire was so hot that even the glass melted, said Justine Paul Kinamot, another teacher.
The campus’s science laboratory was also partly affected by the blaze, which also destroyed the medals and diplomas of students who graduated last Wednesday afternoon.
The fire, which investigators said started from the computer room, was reported at 1 a.m. No one was reported injured in the one-hour blaze and damage was placed at P6 million. The suspected cause of the one-hour fire that razed the nine-room building was faulty electrical wiring.
Dr. Marilyn Andales, schools division superintendent for Negros Oriental said they hope funds will be made available from the Department of Education’s Quick Response Fund so that the school’s 1,650 students will have classrooms by the start of the school year in June.
Andales said the schoolbuilding was built in 2001 through the Secondary Education Development & Improvement Program, which the Department of Education implemented for 26 low-income provinces.
Andales said she has submitted a report on the incident to the Secretary of the Department of Education, as well as to Negros Oriental Gov. Roel Degamo, Reps. Josy Limkaichong, George Arnaiz and Pryde Henry Teves, and to Mabinay Mayor Ernie Uy.
