Marcos orders rebuild of fire-hit QC school
School rebuild President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. visits San Francisco High School in Quezon City on Wednesday, days after a fire damaged the campus and displaced over 700 students. Marcos ordered the DPWH to demolish the Dao Building and build a new four-story, 36-classroom facility worth P180 million. SFHS, one of Quezon City’s largest public high schools, has resumed classes in a temporary location.
Photographs by Yummie Dingding for the daily tribune @tribunephl_yumi
School rebuild President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. visits San Francisco High School in Quezon City on Wednesday, days after a fire damaged the campus and displaced over 700 students. Marcos ordered the DPWH to demolish the Dao Building and build a new four-story, 36-classroom facility worth P180 million. SFHS, one of Quezon City’s largest public high schools, has resumed classes in a temporary location.
Photographs by Yummie Dingding for the daily tribune @tribunephl_yumi
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has directed the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to immediately rebuild the fire-damaged buildings of San Francisco High School (SFHS) in Quezon City.
Marcos personally visited the school on Wednesday to inspect the damage and ensure that recovery efforts were underway to allow students to continue with their classes despite the incident.
“I’ve instructed the DPWH to inspect the structure and determine how soon we can rebuild. I believe the plan now is to upgrade the buildings from two stories to four. So in a way, we’re taking this as an opportunity to improve the facilities,” he said.
The President said the extent of the damage required a full reconstruction, lamenting that the incident happened just before the start of classes. The fire broke out at 10:45 a.m. on 15 June and destroyed the school’s Dao Building, an Imelda-type structure built in 1985.
The blaze, caused by faulty wiring, gutted 10 classrooms — eight academic and two non-academic — affecting 720 junior high school students and causing an estimated P3 million in damage.
“Let’s hope this kind of fire doesn’t happen again, especially now that the rainy season has begun,” Marcos added.
He also ordered the immediate clearing of debris to provide a safe environment for students and instructed the Bureau of Fire Protection and the Department of Education (DepEd) to inspect other schools for potential electrical hazards.
“As for the electrical systems, these classrooms are overloaded with new computers, fans, and air conditioners. We need to inspect other schools and ensure, at the very least, that proper fuses are in place to avoid overloading,” Marcos said.
Despite the setback, the DepEd has assured that classes will proceed as scheduled.
Students from the destroyed classrooms have been temporarily relocated to DepEd Building A, with 12 classrooms made available by the Schools Division Office of Quezon City.
The DepEd, under Secretary Sonny Angara, is also coordinating with public and private partners for immediate assistance.
SC Johnson delivered 140 armchairs, part of its commitment of 400, while the SFHS Alumni Association and Barangay Sto. Cristo provided paint, toilet fixtures, and manpower. The Quezon City government deployed sanitation and engineering teams and provided supplies, while nearby public schools shared their surplus furniture.
“We are grateful to all who responded quickly — the private sector, local government, alumni, and nearby schools. What could have been a major disruption turned into a story of bayanihan,” Angara said.
The DepEd has recommended building a new four-story, 20-classroom structure to replace the Dao Building and address the school’s classroom shortage.
With over 7,300 students and nearly 330 faculty and staff, SFHS is one of Quezon City’s largest public secondary schools.
“We’ll make sure the children can continue going to school and the teachers have what they need. Everything that was lost we’ll replace,” Marcos assured.
