ILOILO CITY — A total of 1,162 public schools in Western Visayas region were damaged by tropical storm Paeng in setbacks now putting in serious jeopardy the face-to-face classes that started on Wednesday, Nov. 2.
“Some areas are badly affected by the flood caused by Paeng,” said Hernani Escular Jr., information officer of the Department of Education (DepEd-6).
The entire Western Visayas has been included to be under a state of calamity declared by President Marcos Jr. owing to considerable damages inflicted by Paeng.
Based on DepEd-6 data, the province of Antique had the most number of damaged public schools with 534.
Hernani said Governor Rhodora Cadiao issued an executive order suspending the classes in the entire province of Antique.
“Classes will resume in Antique on November 7,” Escular told Manila Bulletin in a phone interview Thursday, November 3.
In the province of Aklan, 420 public schools were damaged.
There are also 100 damaged public schools in Negros Occidental province, 63 in Capiz province, 38 in Iloilo province, six in Iloilo City, and one in Roxas City.
Escular said that some of these damaged schools are likely to resort to implementing mixed face-to-face classes and modular-distance learning.
