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Editorial: Disaster waiting

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Monday, June 17, 2013

THE stench of Philippine Educational system is once again taking its ugly toll.

Students from the Philippine Science High School (PSHS)-Cordillera in Irisan barangay are living examples of this. And they are now up in arms because the school is just a few meters away from the city's garbage transfer and sorting station.

Citing health reasons, students began wearing masks because of the foul odor emanating from the tons of garbage.

Aside from the stench, students of the science high school also endanger their lives with the presence of an industrial gas warehouse near the area.

For starters, PSHS-Cordillera relocated in Irisan only last May where it had to vacate its temporary building, and a safer, more conducive to learning atmosphere in San Vicente.

The search for a permanent site for PSHS-CAR took almost three years due to Indigenous People’s ancestral domain rights battles inhabiting the first proposed site.

Finally, by the end of 2011, PSHS succeeded in forging a Usufruct Agreement with the Department of Education and the Department of Science and Technology for the use of a portion of the lot in Irisan.

Instead of calling it a home, the 400 students have to endure their misfortunes.

Baguio City has always been known as the education center of the north but the moniker seems unfit for a city hosting almost 250,000 students.
A science high school near a garbage dumping area is a no brainer. While the city may have good intentions of giving a home for the science high school, it did not even consider the safety of the students.

The gas being emitted from the garbage and the tons of industrial gases being stored in a nearby facility might give the city administrators to re-think the safety of the students.

Should we wait for another disaster?

http://www.sunstar.com.ph/baguio/opinion/2013/06/17/editorial-disaster-waiting-287867