Cabuyao mayor suspends school fire drills after 112 students hospitalized | ABS-CBN

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Cabuyao mayor suspends school fire drills after 112 students hospitalized

Cabuyao mayor suspends school fire drills after 112 students hospitalized

ABS-CBN News

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The mayor of Cabuyao, Laguna has ordered the temporary suspension of all school fire drills in the city after more than 100 students were hospitalized during a school fire drill.

Mayor Dennis Hain said a total of 112 students of Gulod National High School Mamatid Extension were rushed to different hospitals due to dizziness and fainting after attending a fire drill in their school.

"Some had comorbidities. Natakot din ako kasi yung iba nanginginig. Tumitirik ang mata," he said in a TeleRadyo interview.

The mayor earlier said some 3,000 students were first ordered to stay in a classroom during the drill and then brought out into the school's open field under the heat of the sun. By 2 p.m., temperatures during the fire drill ranged from 36 to 43 degrees Celsius, he earlier said.

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Hain noted school authorities failed to coordinate the fire drill with local authorities. "Ang pagkukulang lang ay hindi nacoordinate sa opisina. Wala hong trained fire respondents," he said.

All school fire drills are suspended for now, the mayor said, adding that he will call for a meeting with school principals in the city "so that this won't happen again."

The fire drill at Gulod National High School Mamatid Extension was the second one conducted, based on a Department of Education memo.

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Harapan 2025: Sotto to seek review of P31-B New Senate Building

Harapan 2025: Sotto to seek review of P31-B New Senate Building

RG Cruz,

ABS-CBN News

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MANILA — Former Senate President Vicente Sotto III on Friday rejected the P31-billion price tag of the New Senate Building, which began in his past term.

The construction of the New Senate Building in Bonifacio Global City was passed from Sotto's term to former Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri. 

Last July 2024, Senate President Francis Escudero told Senate employees that the new headquarters' cost went up to P23 billion.

By October 2024, Senate Accounts Committee chair Alan Peter Cayetano said the projected final price tag of the building became P31.6 billion, or P33.07 billion if it will include the furniture and the land. Both Escudero and Cayetano sees the cost "unacceptable".

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During ABS-CBN’s Harapan 2025 interview, Sotto recalled the original budget of the building complex while thumbing down the project cost.

"Eh, ipagpatawad po nila pero hindi po ako papayag na maging P31 billion 'yun. Hindi po pwede yun. Noong pinasa namin yan at ginawa namin yan, inumpisahan namin 'yan ni Senator [Ping] Lacson, 8 to 9 billion lang ang maximum niyan. Hindi nila pwedeng sa computation, isasama nila yung pagkakabili namin ng lupa na 90,000 per square meter. Dahil P1 million per square meter ngayon, isasama mo sa computation yun. Mali 'yun, " he said.

 Sotto believes the projected cost can change depending on many reasons, but he stressed it can be brought down.

"We will have to look into that. In the first place, the way I was informed by the office of Senator Lacson who was trying to find out what happened na bakit biglang ganyan nung wala na kami sa pwesto, eh ang sinasabing na wala naman daw nababayaran pang gano'n. Puro projection daw yan," he explained.

"Therefore, the projection, we can bring down the projection.  Pagka gano'n, nasa pag-hahandle yan eh. 'Yung projection na 31, pwede mo sabihin 40 billion eh. Pwede mo rin sabihin 15 billion. Pero including all the tinamaan ng pandemic, inflation and all that, ako tingin ko dyan, hindi pwedeng umabot na mahigit 15 billion yun," he emphasized.

Other senators last year also expressed disbelief over the project's cost and the delay of the construction, which Senator Nancy Binay said could even ramp up the price.



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