DepEd, Binmaley town clash over school lot

FILE: Department of Education (DepEd) (Photo: DepEd Philippines/Facebook)

BINMALEY, Pangasinan —  The Department of Education and Binmaley town clashed over the municipal government’s request for the Binmaley 1 Central School (B1CES) to allocate part of its premises to an incoming investor.

In a press conference on Thursday, Mayor Simplicio Rosario said he could not understand why DepEd turned down the offer of the municipal government for the investor, LKY Development Corporation, to build two modern school buildings at three floors each, all consisting of 16 classrooms.

He said this will replace B1CES’s 30- to 40-year-old and now dilapidated school buildings. The school has to allocate 2,000 to 3,000 square meters of its premises for the buildings.

On this lot to be shared by the school, LKY will build the Primark Mall, a project already endorsed in a resolution by the municipal council.

Rosario said the lot occupied by the school is owned by the municipal government per an old tax declaration in the office of the town’s assessor, measuring 16,791 square meters.

However, the area was reduced in size over the years as it already became the location of the Magic Mall, the Binmaley Trade and Development Center, and the Binmaley Astrodome, the construction of which is now ongoing.

On the part of DepEd, Regional Director Alma Ruby Torio explained they did not recommend the proposed construction of a mall because, if approved, the school site would be left with an area of just 5,288 square meters.

With such a small area, she said, this will no longer be conducive to learning of the students. She added it is not consistent with the 2010 Educational Facilities Manual that requires school sites to have at least 10,000 square meters in area.

On the other hand, Pangasinan 1 Division Superintendent Marilou Junio-Fernandez also did not recommend the construction as the proposed area to be retained will be too constricted for new school buildings which would  be detrimental to elementary pupils and SPED learners.

“I admit it saddens me that DepEd is not supporting our plan to boost the local economy, provide more employment and at the same time build more decent school buildings at no cost to them,” Mayor Rosario said.

She appealed to DepEd not to be short-sighted and look at the future of the children of the town who must keep up with the flow of progress.

Reiterating that it is the municipal government that owns the lot occupied by B1CES, Rosario said it is the people of Binmaley who really know what is best for them.

He also asked President Rodrigo Duterte as well as Education Secretary Leonor Briones to help on this matter which, he said, would  redound to the benefit of the school children of the town.  (PNA)