Seven Bacolod schools flagged for repairs after 5.8 quake

By Glazyl M. Jopson

BACOLOD CITY — Seven of 49 public schools here were found to need repairs following the magnitude 5.8 earthquake that struck Bogo City, Cebu, and also impacted this city on Monday.

A Rapid Damage Assessment and Needs Analysis (RDANA) was conducted the following day by the City Engineer’s Office (CEO), City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CDRRMO) and the Department of Education (DepEd), and preliminary reports revealed both minor and extensive damage to older school structures.

RDANA is a post-disaster tool used by local governments to quickly evaluate building safety and guide immediate repair priorities.

As part of the evaluation, a color-tagging system was introduced to classify the structural condition of school buildings.

Based on the inspection team’s assessment, seven schools fall under the Yellow Category—safe for partial occupancy but requiring minor to major repairs.

Thirty-eight others were classified under the Green Category, showing no structural threats or only minor issues, while four schools are pending further inspection.

Some defects were preexisting but worsened by the quake, such as large wall cracks and sagging ceilings, particularly at Emiliano Lizares National High School in Barangay Granada.

No schools were classified under the Red Category or unsafe for occupancy.

Under the system, green indicates no structural threat, yellow allows limited occupancy with repairs, and red deems a building unsafe.

City Engineer Loben Ceballos said the findings will serve as a reference for future planning and infrastructure safety.

Mayor Greg Gasataya has ordered annual inspections of all government buildings, starting with public schools, to proactively ensure structural integrity, and he noted that private schools conduct their own facility assessments.

Classes were suspended for two days (Oct. 13 and 14) to facilitate thorough inspections, and the mayor urged the public to report any visible damage in school or public buildings, with classes resuming Wednesday, Oct. 15.

The city had previously flagged four schools for having at least one classroom each deemed unsafe following the Sept. 30 tremor, which heavily affected Bogo City but caused no widespread damage here.