Technology firm offers to construct 4 quake-proof classrooms for P2.26M

Responding to a story which appeared in this section on Dec. 28, Jingo Fermin, president of Solid Group Technologies Corp. (My|House), has offered to build four classrooms of Katipunan Elementary School in Sagbayan, Bohol, for a price lower than earlier cost estimates.

The epicenter of the Oct. 15 earthquake that registered a magnitude 7.2 was southwest of Sagbayan. This destroyed or damaged numerous school buildings, houses, churches and municipal buildings in the province. This included Katipunan Elementary School and its neighboring daycare center.

Fermin, who claims that his company constructs modular buildings, particularly classrooms, said the company had just recently built three classrooms in Bohol under the Gabay Guro Foundation of telecommunications company PLDT. He said these classrooms were inaugurated Dec. 14 and built in a span of one month. These new classrooms are in Loay, Cortes and Putong in Tagbilaran.

Inquirer Property earlier reported that a two-classroom building measuring 7 meters by 9 meters would cost P1.320 million to build (at P660,155 per classroom), according to estimates of the Philippine Business for Social Progress-Visayas Regional Center in Cebu.

The project specification included the general requirements, materials and procedures to be done for earthworks, concrete works, formworks and scaffoldings, masonry works, carpentry works, finish hardware, doors and windows, roofing and roof framing works, finishing works, electrical works, painting works, total materials costs and total labor costs.

Fermin said his two-classroom building—which would also include the costs for general requirements, procedures and materials cited in the PBSP specs—would cost only P1.13 million, or P565,000 per classroom. He claimed that not only would his group’s technology be cheaper, but the materials used—prefabricated insulated sandwich panels technology—would also make possible the following:

• 200-230 kph wind resistance

• Intensity-7 earthquake resistance

• Insulated walls (50 mm styro)

• Prepainting

• Can be assembled and disassembled six times

• Fast building—one-month construction period for two classrooms.

According to the My|House website, modular buildings and modular homes are sectional prefabricated buildings or houses that consist of multiple modules or sections manufactured in a remote facility and then delivered to their intended site of use. The modules are assembled into a single residential building using either a crane or trucks.

The company info explained that “Off-frame modular dwellings differ from mobile homes largely in their absence of axles or a frame, meaning that they are typically transported to their site by means of flat-bed trucks; however, some modular dwellings are built on a steel frame (on-frame modular), which can be used for transportation to the site. Many modular homes are of multilevel design, and are often set in place using a crane.”

The four damaged classrooms of the Katipunan Elementary School, as well as the daycare center 4.5 kilometers from the town center of Sagbayan, had been declared unsafe for use after the earthquake.

Katipunan Elementary School has 123 students, while the daycare center has 23 children below the age of 6.

The school’s head teacher, Samuel Anosa, told Inquirer Property that the children now attend classes in crowded, noisy tents. He added that the children were getting sick from exposure to the elements while attending classes. Anosa and the students’ parents are hoping to be able to get help from generous builders to reconstruct the classrooms.

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