The Department of Education (DepEd) has monitored 1,374 public schools in Western Visayas shifting to alternative delivery mode (ADM) of learning as a precautionary measure due to poor weather caused by a low pressure area (LPA). DepEd information officer Hernani Escullar Jr., in an interview with media on Thursday, said DepEd Order 30, series of 2022, mandates schools to shift to alternative modes during suspension or cancelation of classes to make sure that learning competencies are met. Of the total number of schools, 452 are from Negros Occidental; 216 in Capiz; 529, Iloilo province; 66, Iloilo City; and 111 from Antique. Escullar said as of noontime of Thursday, the number of schools that utilized the ADM is already 33.94 percent of the 4,048 schools in the region. Leonil Salvilla, spokesperson for the schools’ division of Iloilo, said once there is a suspension of classes due to inclement weather, it is also automatic that they shift to distance learning. ‘Our schools are ready to implement the alternative delivery mode (ADM) of learning in situations like these. So it is not completely suspended; learning will continue if there are available self-learning modules prior to the suspension,’ he said in a separate interview. Among the towns that suspended classes in all levels are Calinog, San Dionisio, San Enrique, Pototan, San Joaquin, Sta. Barbara, Dueñas, Bingawan, Barotac Nuevo, Dumangas, and Lambunao while the suspension is only for grade school and secondary levels in the towns of Oton, balasan, Zarraga and Miagao. Meantime, Iloilo Governor Arthur Defensor Jr. said that flooding has been monitored in central Iloilo bordering mountainous barangays and Capiz. ‘While it was not raining here in Iloilo City, last night we already received reports of flooding in Calinog,’ he said in a press conference on Thursday afternoon. A report submitted by the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO) showed that as of Thursday, 122 families from 16 barangays are staying in evacuation centers; 122 families were affected by flooding and 97 families due to landslide. Further, 518 families from 12 barangays in the municipality of Dingle and eight families from one barangay in Dumangas town are staying in evacuation centers due to flooding. ‘We have no casualty, no missing. But we will continue to receive reports,’ he said. He also instructed the PDRRMO to coordinate with its counterparts at the municipal level if there is a need to send augmentation.

Source: Philippines News Agency